Social Love and Social Work: A Way of Helping Through Feelings Between Professionals and Users

This article presents the results of two qualitative studies, realized in Italy, aimed at investigating if and how social love informs social workers’ practices and interventions designed to address situations of poverty and homelessness. In particular, the aim of these studies was to further develop the line of inquiry initiated by a preliminary exploratory study conducted in Italy some years ago, which recognized traces of agapic action within helping relationships in the context of social services addressing conditions of social exclusion and poverty, and found that these agapic actions produce a reality sui generis: a unity between subjects which, from reciprocal action, leads to a ‘generative social mechanism’, existing beyond the parties involved and overabundant. The results of the two studies presented in the article offer further evidence to support this hypothesis. The article highlights the existential and professional perspective with which social workers approach the challenging task of helping vulnerable individuals. Elements of social love have been highlighted that contribute to making professional assistance more sustainable and effective, moving away from neoliberal and managerialist approaches that often ignore the emotional and relational dimensions. Social love fuels motivation for positive change despite social and personal limitations and risks of failure.