Social work in the Revolution : political agency and intervention of social workers in the democratic transition in Portugal (1974-1975)

Abstract

This study, framed as an article dissertation consisting of four independent peer-reviewed scientific publications and a summary report, examines the participation of social workers in the transition to democracy in Portugal following the 25 April 1974 Revolution. That transition was marked by radical political, social, and economic changes, particularly during the 1974-75 PREC (Revolutionary Process Under Way) period. Knowing and understanding the impacts of the Revolution in Portuguese social work and the contribution social workers made to the PREC constitute the general subject and aim of this research. In particular, it implies responding to how social workers connected to the political opportunities opened by the revolutionary transition to affirm an overtly politically engaged practice and to what extent it corresponded to radical social work forms. The Political Opportunity Structures perspective taken from social movements theories and 1960s and 1970s radical social work proposals from the UK, the USA and Latin-America constituted the theoretical and conceptual framework of the study, underpinned by a constructionist approach. Qualitative methods were used to collect and analyse data. A set of 14 biographic interviews with social workers and archival documental information constituted the empirical basis of the research. Qualitative data analysis was done through categorial content and narrative analysis, supported by Portuguese social work historiographic literature and international radical social work publications. The results confirm previous claims that the PREC was not a definite moment of rupture regarding traditional, conservative and politically-neutral social work conceptions, but the confirmation of a series of intentions of rupture that started to take place prior to the Revolution. The results also state that: professional radical engagement and social workers’ political activism were not impediments to professional identity neither did they cause professional disaffiliation; participation in revolutionary initiatives contributed to politicise professional practice; social workers´ experiences alongside the revolutionary fronts did conform to radical social work, without originating from or leading to an organic radical professional movement, though.