The socio-educational dimension of social work in Angola from Gramsci's perspective

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the socio-educational dimension of Social Work from a Gramscian perspective, based on historical-dialectic materialism, based on bibliographical research. Books and articles by Angolan researchers (social workers) and other Brazilian authors were collected, whose approaches led us to conclude (provisionally) that Antônio Gramsci is an important figure in Latin America and, in a way, therefore, Social Service in this region has a particularity that significantly scales the political emancipation of the profession. In Angola the reality is different, that is, we don't have that Marxist thinker as a reference. Social Service in Angola in its socio-educational dimension does not present a direct dialogue with Gramsci's thought. On the contrary, it has a view of the profession as “help”, based on the “Pedagogy of Help”, therefore, based on abstract Christian humanism, which dialogues with positivist social theory with a functionalist matrix. The way dependent capitalism is processed in Angola hinders the possibilities of political emancipation of the working class, to the point that some professions, such as Social Service, are not recognized as work. In this way, the conceptions of professionals in this area have few recurrences to emancipatory social theory. But with the presence of Marxism in the profession since 2016, there are possibilities to gradually build the dialogue between social workers and the thinking of Antônio Gramsci.

Keywords: Angola; socio-educational dimension; social work, Gramsci.