Identificaciones profesionales desde el Trabajo Social en el sector público y privado no lucrativo en tiempos de crisis en Málaga (España)

Abstract

Studies on Social Work (SW) show that a lack of social recognition of the discipline and of the profession as a group continues to persist. This work comparatively analyses how the professional identifications of SW are constructed in various sectors of intervention in times of Crisis in Malaga (Andalusia, Spain). Qualitative research is carried out through interviews with 20 professionals (10 from the public sector and 10 from the non-profit private sector) between July and November 2015. The results indicate that the personnel interviewed allude to the performance of the function of aid to populations to identify their role, regardless of the sector. However, the aid is determined by social and economic changes. The impact of the Crisis on professional practice stands out amongst these through social cuts, the suppression of budgets, services and jobs. From the point of view of the public sector, these aspects generate a greater bureaucratization, an increase in clients and the complexity of their needs. From the point of view of the non-profit private sector, these limitations are compensated through the prominence of the aid relationship.  This highlights that the identifications of SW are shaped by the social, economic and political circumstances that historically and contextually condition the hegemony of the social aid from the standpoint of different sectors.