O SERVIÇO SOCIAL E O CAMPO SOCIOAMBIENTAL

Abstract

The theoretical-methodological knowledge accumulated by Social Work and its experiences in various fields involving people and social conflicts opens up the possibility of acting in the socio-environmental field. The methodology adopted in the article presented here starts from the observation of problems surrounding environmental impacts caused by large projects in the offshore oil and gas sector to understand the possibilities of Social Work's contribution in the socio-environmental field. The discussion of the socioeconomic impacts of the oil industry, in general, is treated in a fragmented manner by isolated social and environmental discussions. However, they need to be faced articulately, as the faces of the same mode of production that is based on the exploitation of nature and man.  The socio-environmental issue has not been properly politicized, as there is much more attention to the evidence of environmental depredation and its consequences, but there is no focus on unveiling its determinations, arising from the alienation of the production of social wealth. Taking the manifestations of the “social issue” as the object and raw material of this profession, the social dimension of environmental problems ends up outlining varied possibilities for acting in this form of specialization in the socio-technical division of labor, as its theoretical formation -methodological allows a wide scope of intervention possibilities. The contribution of social workers, in the socio-environmental field, is, therefore, among the old demands directed to the profession in new guises, which take on new dimensions, which must be unveiled and demystified.