As an applied social science, social work serves the realization of social justice, aiming at the empowerment of individuals, change, and well-being, as defined in the respective cultural and social context within which its practice is applied.

This book reveals the identity of social work as a process of understanding, uncovering potentials, attributing meaning, interpreting, intervening, and acting, which leads to problem-solving, crisis and impasse management, and favors the acceptance of diversity and the overturning of conditions that produce inequalities, oppression, and various exclusions. At the same time, it refers to the genesis and evolution of its theory, principles, and practice, as a humanistic, methodologically sound, and critical strategy.

As an introductory manual, the book aims to introduce students to the basic concepts and theory of the science and the fundamental aspects of its methodology, practice, and research.

It is also accessible to graduates of other humanities sciences, helping them understand the social problems and needs that those addressing social workers bring, as well as to those interested in working in organizations and services where social work is practiced.