The concept of management is generally projected in the business environment and we speak of commercial management or human resources management. However, in the sphere of society there is also social management, a concept coined in recent years to refer to a specific academic training with a clear social projection, seeking to solve problems such as marginality.
Social management studies
This type of university training is known by several terms, being that of planning and social management the most widespread and can be carried out in its undergraduate or postgraduate modality.
These studies are framed in the field of social services typical of public administration and as a response to the complex social reality with issues related to marginalization, exclusion, sustainability or equal opportunities.
Regarding the study plans, they contain areas such as social management, social planning and programming, social spending, the sustainability of the welfare state and public policies, among others.
The main keys in social management
Regardless of the specific areas and their contents, social management studies must be understood within a complex framework in which the political, economic and social dimension of the human being interacts.
Effective social management implies knowing the recognized social rights and the public system that administers them.
Educational policies, pensions and the labor reality are also essential aspects of social management
From the point of view of methodology, these studies are associated with a whole series of social indicators that allow evaluating poverty, social vulnerability or measuring the material and non-material needs of citizens.
A social manager will have to develop and analyze social projects in order to transform some aspect of reality. For this, it will be necessary to address the issue of financing and social spending and, at the same time, handle the main parameters of sociology.
The figure of the social manager should not be understood as a profession of bureaucrats or with a purely theoretical approach, since the objective of his profession is impregnated with ethical values such as social justice, commitment to the most disadvantaged and the fight against inequalities.
Photos: iStock - Joel Carillet / Joel Carillet
