The aim of this paper is to present the advances and discuss the critiques of social management, besides presenting possible contributions to the initial delineation of this field of knowledge, what is here understood as being under construction. A review of the literature regarding theoretical contributions to the subject was conducted. The main critiques are presented and discussed and the contributions for the delimitation of the field are listes. The article also discusses the importance of the theme and the reconstruction of the origin of the term social management. In the perception of the authors, social management is antithetical to strategic management since its concern is with the involvement of everyone in the process of collective decision-making; this is thus in contrast with strategic management, where the conceptual framework and instruments are linked to decision-making mechanisms based on the hierarchy. In short, social management is presented as collective decision-making, without coercion, based on the intelligibility of language, dialogue and enlightened understanding as a process, transparency as a precondition and emancipation as the ultimate goal.
Social management; Strategic management; Emancipation
