Controllo sociale e potere nell’ambito del lavoro sociale: una prospettiva critica

[Machine translation] My warning to people, now, is that if you need help the latest, The people you should contact are social workers (Dorio, 1992), This sentence, uttered by a parent in charge of a service for, the protection of minors, clearly highlights the dilemma that the assistant, Social must address in the management of its social and institutional mandate:, Is it possible to exercise social control by promoting well-being, and the self-determination of the people over whom this control is exercised? To address this issue, the analysis will be divided into three parts., In the first part, we will talk about social control in the relationship between, social worker and user. In the second part, we will analyze the two, paradigms (positivism and constructionism) within which they can be placed, Theoretical perspectives on negligence and harmful conduct, (abuse), briefly addressing the following issues: what is the nature, of these phenomena (ontological question), how can they be known and, What is the nature of the relationship between the researcher and what can be known, (epistemological question), with which method can they be studied, (methodology issue)., Finally, it will be highlighted how the paradigms that guide the process of, categorization of users may influence the forms in which they come, exercised power and social control, whether or not it encouraged anti-oppressive practices.