How do we adapt to policy guidelines in a changing society? entrepreneurship' limits and potentials for social work

"We live liquid times. Nothing is to last". It is from these words that Bauman (1998) conceptualizes the current context: marked by fluidity, volatility, uncertainty and risk (Giddens, 1991). Labor relations are not exempt from such “winds of change”, turning into fluid and deregulated fields. Within this uncertainty and liquidity, exacerbated by the impacts of a neoliberal wave, we are witnessing the wider debate around the entrepreneurial activity as a privileged strategy to address the scenarios of structural unemployment and precariousness labor. Fact that was highlighted during the Lisbon Strategy, considering entrepreneurship as one of the bases of European Union policies. Entrepreneurship is a structured process between different actors predetermined to change, based on market principles such as profit and individualism. However, when we move to Entrepreneurship in its social dimension, it is possible to identify some links between their own values and those of Social Work (SW), namely: empowerment, democracy and social needs' satisfaction. It is with this mindset that we aim to contribute to the understanding of the SW-Entrepreneurship relationship, in the (re)discovery and development of (new) potentialities and capacities of the population, as part of the SW 'mission, and how such a link will contribute to the (re)construction of (new) orientations, models and strategies for professional practice. The present research is part of an on-going PhD research in Social Work about innovation in the professional and academic field of SW, namely the potentialities that entrepreneurship and innovation bring to SW, in regard to the integration of socially vulnerable publics. The aim is also to develop a thorough discussion of the limitations of this approach in solving such problems and how this can be seen as a further expression of individuation policy trends. To do so, we’re guided by a mixed methodology, applying quantitative data collection techniques – survey to 52 participants of social entrepreneurship training programs - and qualitative - two focus group: one with social workers linked to the academy and another one with social workers close to the "practice field". In fact, we intend to present part of the research that focuses on the development and incorporation of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship in the formulation of social policies in the European context, followed by a particular analysis about its incorporation into the design of Portuguese public policies. The analysis will proceed focusing on the following layers: (i) the implications of such guidelines in the different domains of SW, namely, in the academic and practical dimensions of the discipline, (ii) the potentialities and constraints that (social) entrepreneurship and (social) innovation entail for Social Work itself, particularly in relation to its ethical values and principles.