Capitalismo e redes sociais : o que nos diz a produção acadêmica do serviço social?

Abstract

The present research has how object of study the social networks and its functionality to the order of the bourgeoisie in the contemporary times from the academic production of the Social Work. Resulting from the advances of the productive forces and intensified by the technologic improvement, these social networks assume many functions, becoming useful to the capitalist system through the spread of ideologies, consumption incentive and strengthening the alienation. Being the Social Work, a profession connected to dynamics of the real, in order to understand the expressions of the social question and its intervention object, this research aims to analyze the functionality of social networks in contemporary capitalism, from the academic production of the social work about the subject between 2014 and 2018. Therefore, the study seeks to understand the theoretical and historical foundations of capitalism in order to comprehend the social determinations that affect the dynamics of social networks; analyze the functions of social networks as operational tools for capitalism in contemporary society; and verify how the Social Work addresses and apprehend the social networks. The investigation was based on the dialectical historical materialism, understanding the object from the perspective of totality inherent of this method. This is a theoretical research of the exploratory type, using a qualitative approach and bibliographic research through varied literature and diverse sources. For data collection, surveys were made in the database of theses and dissertations of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), on the Social Work field, from 2014 to 2018, from which a production was found that met the search criteria. Although it does not deal with social networks, it has as its object of study the mass media, keeping a close relationship with the theme addressed here. The results showed the usefulness of these means for capitalism, effectively contributing to their reproduction, mediated by the categories ideology, consumption and alienation. This made possible a parallel with the approach on social networks, equally inserted in social relations, whose functionality to the current social order is based on the same categories.