Professional Overlapping: the Chilean Case of Sociology and Social Work

Abstract

Based on a research using a quantitative-qualitative focus, framed within the explanatory paradigm, in which job offers published in mass media for professionals in the social sciences were reviewed, surveys and open interviews were carried out to practicing sociologists and social workers and their employers. This article discusses the transformations that these careers are experiencing today and analyzes the premise that in today’s labor market jobs would be replacing professional careers. Moreover, it addresses the factors of professionalization and deprofessionalization of sociology and social work, and social closures of both professions in the Chilean labor context, to reach the conclusion, on the overlapping of professional boundaries between them, in the current employment context, that we would be facing knowledge workers rather than a specific type of professional.