O trabalho na Assistência Social como uma “missão de vida”: Dinâmicas de poder e identidades profissionais de Assistentes Sociais e Psicólogos.

Abstract

This thesis focused on the dimension of the work of technicians (psychologists and social workers) from Basic Social Protection (PSB) and Special Social Protection (PSE), of medium complexity, from social assistance services in the municipality of Caruaru-PE, in order to understand the dynamics of power and the elaborations of identity that guide interventions on the lives of users of these services. To this end, we interviewed 16 technicians, 14 of whom were women and 2 men, of whom 9 were psychologists and 2 were social workers; in addition to the two managers, PSB (social worker) and PSE (lawyer), both women. We also interviewed 2 ex managers PS's, both psychologists, a woman and a man; 1 ex technician at Shelter House, psychologist, 1 ex psychology intern at Shelter House and 1 ex member of a third sector socio-assistance institution. The results of the research pointed to a scenario of extreme precarious work, configured as a service of low remuneration, intensification of the workload and precarious payment. Although the normative structure of services and the National Social Assistance Policy (PNAS), provokes the need for valuing technical knowledge, it is possible to note that, due to the terrible working conditions, investment in training and improvement for work does not are valued by technicians. It was also noticeable an intense responsibility, including judicial, introduced in the job. In this scenario, technicians build negative representations about users who do not engage in the monitoring processes, reinforcing interpretations that blame families. They are also prone to salvationist interpretations of performance, which support their professional identity, while anchoring, around the idea of vocation, permanence and engagement at work, even in precarious conditions. Intervention within the scope of the PSE, on the other hand, is often justified as an act of “saving lives”, and in the meantime, professionals are taken to the exercise of pastoral power, as a beneficial formula for caring for families, considering the will of the users as obstacles. In short, professional identities in municipal social assistance services are presented as guided by a sense of help and mission, which disposes professionals to accept precarious conditions and to establish, in the relationship with users, pastoral practices of power. There is then a fundamental paradox, as it does not seem possible to develop a committed and engaged practice in this sector, which is not mobilized by the idea of mission, at the time when this modus operandi subjectively imprisons technicians in precarious working conditions and conditions them to “guide users' lives”, disconnecting from technical support and scientific reflections on the problems that plague the lives of people served by social assistance services.