Rethinking Content and Form: Brief Arguments in Favor of Understanding Social Management as a School of Thought

Objetive: to discuss the possibility of understanding Social Management (SM) as a school of thought and suggest the criteria for such an endeavor. Theoretical framework: the SM has been portrayed in the last 30 years of theoretical-conceptual construction, under different forms of explanation. Called theory, approach and managerial practice, the SM has been a rich field of discussion and collective construction, precisely because of its theoretical-conceptual flexibility. Methodology: this work is a theoretical essay that systematically addressed the relevant scientific literature, prior to its construction. Results: in this work, we suggest three criteria that allow us to understand SM as a school of thought, but which is not based on the criteria defined by other areas of specialization that, in general, are antagonistic to the assumptions of SM: i) coexistence of parallel theoretical-conceptuals positions, but which synergistically, seek to encompass the specificities of Brazilian social reality; ii) flexible existence structure, not linked only to an organization, grouping or collective, but which provides opportunities for its institutionalization, for its permanence and development; iii) the existence of a vibrant community of researchers, who seek to actively collaborate with the work of others, who encourage debate and who respect divergent positions, so that the area develops as a whole. Originality: works that seek to contribute theoretically to SM are not rare. However, this work differentiates itself by circumventing the epistemological limitations of rigid frameworks, proposing SM as a school of thought that encompasses different “truths”, proposed by researchers who are concerned with the Brazilian reality. Theoretical contributions: this work contributes theoretically to the area of ​​knowledge of SM, by proposing a new approach, previously never observed in the scientific literature.