A dimensão da Cultura no debate acadêmico do Serviço Social: um panorama dos veículos editoriais pós-movimento de reconceituação (1994-2014)

Abstract

This thesis has an object of study the debate of culture in the theoretical production of Social Work. We beginning from the hypothesis that the critical perspective in the Brazilian Social Work has broken the conservatism of the profession in dealing with the social issue and advanced in the theoretical and methodological systematization of its work, but, at the same time, it restricted the analysis of the capitalist world by not focusing on the dimension of culture in the production and reproduction of social life. To this end, we conducted research on the state of the art of culture in the academic debate of the profession, where we defined as analysis material complete articles from three major circulation journals relevant to the academic field of Social Work and treated with A qualification in the CAPES system (Coordination Improvement of Higher Education Personnel). They are: the magazine “Serviço Social e Sociedade”, published by the publisher Cortez, since 1979, the magazine “Katálisys”, linked to the Graduate Program in Social Work at UFSC, published since 1997, and the “Revista de Políticas Públicas”, linked to the Postgraduate Program in Public Policies at UFMA, published since 1995. Our analysis is restricted, particularly, to the period from 1994 to 2014, relating this time frame to the cultural panorama experienced by the Social Work after the reconceptualization movement, when the Brazilian Social Work it appropriated more solidly the Marxist thought. Thus, our central concern is with the dimension of culture within the framework of critical Marxist theory. For the definition of culture, we start from the tradition of studies that conceive culture as a constituent of the social being, of the way of life in a given context of sociability. This reading is typical of authors of the so-called new left whose main exponents are, among other theorists, Raymond Williams and Edward P. Thompson. The analyzes of such theorists are based, above all, on the studies of Antonio Gramsci, our main reference for the present study. The research will seek to understand why the debate of culture was little discussed by the Brazilian Social Service and how this debate can contribute to advance in the deepening of analyzes of the way of life and of the relations of exploitation forged by the capitalist mode of production.