Trayectorias de la investigación y desafios actuales en la Escuela de Trabajo Social

Abstract

This article considers the theoretical trajectories under debate, as related to research in the field of social work, inserted into the dynamics of contemporary history. It deals with recording the directions taken in the thematic development of academic research at the School of Social Work, while referencing the specific context in and of Costa Rica. It concludes with some reflections on the challenges and barriers that exist to producing relevant and socially pertinent critical knowledge, in line with the growing barbarization of social life, as expressed via sophisticated expressions of the social question, a minimization of State responses, and a strong return to welfare assistance, control, repression, and the criminalization of poverty and citizen protest.