Objective.

To approach the debate that has been developed in the Brazilian Social Work among some authors, specifically Iamamoto, Lessa and Costa, on the relation between Social Work and work, from Marx’s social theory, based on the need to analyze the limits and possibilities of Social Work in the construction of an emancipated society both in the field of intervention and in the field of theoretical production.

Discussion.

The diverse, and sometimes contradictory postulates of these authors are analyzed from four identified central points: abstract work-concrete work; work process; productive work-unproductive work; and salaried-proletariat workers.

Conclusions.

Social Work is placed in the complex of social reproduction. It cannot be considered as concrete work, although it can be considered as salaried work, which, according to the concrete circumstances, can produce surplus value.

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