Debatendo a consciência de classe dos assistentes sociais: um estudo a partir das apreensões e concepções dos assistentes sociais acerca de suas atividades de trabalho nos CRAS’s

Abstract

The present thesis aims to reflect and debate the social workers class consciousness from their perceptions ans conceptions about their professional work activity. The willing of broaden the reflections on the consciousness of the social workers class emerged from questions such as: do the social workers truly understand the implications and constraints from being subordinated to a salary policy despite the clear reproduction of categories, concepts or cliches? Do the social workers see themselves as a work group? Therefore, considering the existing questions, we tried to improve the reflection on the consciousness of these professionals due to the moviment of alienation, job strangeness, merchandise fetichism and reification, as well as ideology. To develop this stydy, a field research was conducted among the social workers who work at Social Assistence Reference Centers (CRAS’s) in the city of Macaé, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. Semistructured interviews were applied in this work. Besides the field research, a literature review was also done in order to support the reflection, as well as the interview analysis. It is necessary to highlight that the social work policy as a locus to carry out the field research was not chosen at random. The social work is connected with the fact that it turned out to be one of the main job positions for the social workers and for the aforementioned policy trajectory, marked by the traditionalism, which is somehow a strategy to keep the capitalism order. From this perspective, this study will be organized in three chapters. The first one will focus on the capitalist production process and the wage labour. In the first chapter still, the categories job alienation and strangeness will be thoroughly explored, as well as merchandise fetichism and reification, ideology and class consciousness. The second chapter will explain how the social worker is inserted in the job market, through their paid work, and in the social division of work. This way, the second chapter will talk about the origins of the profession as well as its historical trajectory. The second chapter will also mention the categories of job alienation and trangeness related to the social worker wage labour condition. In the third chapter the social workers will discuss about their class consciousness from their perceptions, reflections and elaborations on the job performed. Elements related to the social historical principles of the social workers in Brazil will be initially taken into account. Then a brief history of this policy in the city of Macaé will be presented. And finally, in the third chapter, data and information collected by the research and its analysis will be presented. And last but not least, final considerations will be made in order to celebrate this thesis.