Cinta de Moebio: Revista de Epistemología de Ciencias Sociales

Saavedra, J. (2017) La paradoja de la negación en la intervención social. Cinta moebio 59: 211-220. doi: 10.4067/S0717-54X2017000200211

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The paradox of denial in social intervention

Juan Saavedra (jsaavedr@ubiobio.cl) Departamento Ciencias Sociales, Universidad del Bío-Bío (Concepción, Chile) ORCID: 0000-0002-9188-8126

Abstract

The heuristic potential of paradoxes in the field of social sciences can be analysed in relation with an epistemological discussion in social work. Its disciplinary delimitation is not solved assigning the object of study of social work to gap situations (social problems and needs) and to relation-interaction systems. This is one of the reasons to propose that the object of study of social work resides in social intervention but in a paradoxical way: at the same time in which recognizes the intervention as the object of study, it denies its borders and exclusivity. The paradox contributes with a new point of view to solve the issue of social work, because it broadens the intervention scope to a wide and complex social phenomenon, going beyond the professional performance and giving a chance to make visible the heuristic of paradoxes in the field of social sciences.

Key words: paradox, heuristic, social work, discipline, social intervention.