SOCIAL ASSISTANCE POLICY AND SOCIAL WORK: REFLECTIONS ON WORKING CONDITIONS

Abstract

This article addresses the interlocution between social work and social assistance policy, a privileged field of action for social workers. The objective is to critically reflect on the working conditions of social workers within the scope of the Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS), in view of the transformations that have occurred in the world of work in recent decades, from the process of productive restructuring and the organization of the political and ideological system through neoliberal policy. It is a bibliographic and documentary article, based on the available legislation on the subject, the production of some authors and the analysis of data from the SUAS 2023 Census. Among the results, it is highlighted that social work is a profession inserted in the socio-technical division of labor, being negatively affected by the dictates of neoliberal policy, which orders regressive forms of labor rights, once conquered, to the detriment of precarious and fragile bonds and working conditions, reflecting on the quality of services provided to users. A paradox in the social assistance policy is highlighted: social workers are required to guarantee the social rights of users, while they do not have adequate and/or sufficient working conditions.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.56238/sevened2024.031-014