Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and Graduate Degree in Psychology

Hello friends!

I have frequently received the following question: “I do social work (or have already graduated) and would like to do a graduate degree in psychology. Which do you recommend?” In this text, I will give my personal opinion about it. I think that this doubt is also related to other graduations, that is, students from other faculties may wish to attend a postgraduate course in the area of ​​psychology.

A dichotomy that permeated the human sciences in the 20th century was the question “individual X society”. In principle, it is even a sterile question, to know if the individual creates society or if it is society that creates the individual. It’s like the chicken and the egg thing. Anyway, this problem was present especially in sociology and psychology. In sociology, the weight falls on the study of society, and in psychology, the weight falls on the study of the individual.

As it should be, there is a complicating factor for this simpler definition. The birth of so-called social psychology.

See here – What is social psychology?

Social psychology, in its own way, is situated in-between, in the middle, at the intersection between sociology and psychology. It incorporates diverse knowledge from sociology, but still remains psychology. Epistemologically, however, for social psychologists this problem is indifferent (whether it is more psychology or more sociology).

And what does all this have to do with social work and graduate studies in psychology?

Well, first of all, social work is much closer in perspective to sociology than psychology. The entire study is centered on social relationships, to the detriment of the in-depth study of individuality (a prerogative of psychology). Although psychology can be accused of solipsism, its metaphor – as James Hillman would say – is the individual. Its center, its object, is the individual.

As I said above, for those outside or in general, this may seem irrelevant. But when we go into practice, we are going to have a look that will either be in favor of social relations or in favor of the individual.

For example, right after my training in psychology, I worked for a short time in a nursing home. In this institution, the social workers’ view was that social relations had to be reestablished. Its focus was on the social cohesion of the family. Thus, even if family members had had problems in the past, including mistreatment by parents, the goal was reconciliation between parents and children.

Now, in this example, we can see that the ethics of social assistance is completely centered on social relations, on the establishment of social ties. It leaves aside, let’s say, the ethics of the individual, what each one – individually – wants.

In my opinion, therefore, it is an ethics far removed from the ethics we see in psychology. The ethics of social workers is much closer even to theology (and to a social morality that tends to the universal) than to psychology or psychoanalysis. Evidently there is social psychology, which studies groups, social movements, communities, which proposes group dynamics. Even so, its ethics (if well studied) consider individuality and the social roles assumed at a given moment in a given group.

What I want to say with all this argument is that those who have done or do social work study issues and theories that are not so close to psychology. Observing some curricular matrices of graduation in social work, we can see that very few disciplines are identical to psychology. Contrary to what happens with pedagogy and administration, which has about 20% (at least) of similar disciplines.

Thus, for those who are doing social work or have already graduated, I would not recommend doing a graduate degree in psychology. Excluding the fact that postgraduate courses (lato sensu, specialization) are generally closed, that is, they only open vacancies for those who have a degree in psychology or medicine, we have to understand that social work and psychology may even seem to be related areas, which seek to help people, but they are very different. Therefore, it is recommended to do a degree in psychology and not pursue a postgraduate degree in psychology.

There is also the possibility of doing a master’s degree, and then a doctorate, in psychology, perhaps social psychology. But remembering that postgraduate courses (stricto sensu) are aimed at teaching in higher education and do not open the possibility of professional performance as specializations do.

In summary, postgraduate specialization courses, for example, postgraduate studies in clinical, hospital, organizational psychology (etc.) open up vacancies for those who studied psychology. Therefore, those who have a degree in social work will not be able to enter. In addition, to work within psychology, the Federal Council of Psychology requires a degree in psychology.

It is possible to find vacancies in postgraduate master’s and doctoral programs (stricto sensu), but it is good to remember that the objective is to train researchers, academics and non-professionals with a curriculum ready for the job market.

See here – What postgraduate degree should I do?

In conclusion, if you have done or are doing social work or another degree and want to do a postgraduate degree in psychology, I recommend looking for information about the possibility of enrolling in these postgraduate courses. As I said, in the vast majority of cases, entry will be denied to those who do not have a degree in psychology. If you want to work as an academic teacher, it will always be possible to find master’s degrees in which there is no prior graduation requirement.

And, finally, there is the possibility of doing a postgraduate degree in psychoanalysis. As I say in the text – Best Courses in Psychoanalysis – it is possible to do a postgraduate degree in psychoanalysis having graduated in any area. However, the performance is still problematic because there is no regulation of the psychoanalyst profession in Brazil.

Any questions, please comment below!

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