In the general framework of the social security system, the prevention and remedying of situations of social exclusion, inequality or vulnerability is considered as one of the central objectives of the social action subsystem. Thus, social support is of particular importance, contributing to the effective protection of the most vulnerable groups, and with the perspective of promoting the well-being of the population and conditions that facilitate the processes of social insertion.

The Curricular Unit presents itself, on the one hand, as a discipline to deepen the great theoretical concepts that entitle it, and, on the other, to reflect and apprehend the theoretical and methodological dimensions of intervention and social monitoring, and its application in specific contexts of the professional practice of the social worker and other social actors.

Thus, two central objectives are established:

• to promote the deepening and / or acquisition of knowledge around the transformations of the Welfare State, within the framework of the risk society, and its implications in the social monitoring devices of publics in situations of greater social vulnerability, which translates into the establishment of a “new contract for social assistance”;
• reflect and apprehend the principles and "modus operandi" required in the professions of social intervention in the devices of social accompaniment and the processes of social insertion.