Social Work and research: empowerment and gender strategies in the spanish university

Abstract

The article carries out a reflection on the teaching and research functions of Social Work and on the consequences deriving from the increasing hierarchization of knowledge, especially when methodologies and epistemologies are related to women’s, gender, and feminist studies in the field of Social Work. On the basis of empowerment strategies that some Spanish professors have used in order to overcome the limitations of the prevailing model of scientific commercialization, we suggest linking the academic and professional work settings in order to develop research projects, inter-university networks, and scientific strategies that contribute to reassessing the production of knowledge as a result of this alliance, thus repositioning the value of Social Work as a Social Science.

Keywords

• empoderamiento
• género
• investigación
• Intervención
• Trabajo Social
• Universidad