TRANSFORMAÇÕES SOCIETÁRIAS E “SERVIÇO SOCIAL”

ELEMENTOS PARA O DEBATE ACERCA DA REALAÇÃO DA PROFISSÃO COM A "QUESTÃO AMBIENTAL"

Abstract

This article deals with reflections on the relationship between Social Work and the “environmental issue”. Based on the theoretical-methodological approach of historical and dialectical materialism, it presents a discussion about the societal transformations in the framework of the capitalist system that, historically, are directed towards the destructiveness of the environment as part of its essence moved by the expansion, accumulation and concentration of riches. Faced with a scenario of dilapidation of nature, in the context of the 1970 crisis, the “environmental issue” acquires relevance and space on the governmental agenda and of various sectors of civil society, all with a common good: saving the planet. It is in the course of capitalist social transformations facing the need to recover high rates of profit that strategies to face environmental problems are formulated. Environmental education is central to these strategies, requiring professions to act in their educational processes, among them, Social Work. The terrain of the “environmental issue” is challenging, given that the hegemonic discourse that guides it is conservative, which poses challenges to the profession, whether in the field of intervention or in the production of knowledge. However, it puts possibilities for the profession to develop an action and critical reflections based on the ethical-political project, in order to oppose the barbarism of capitalism.