INTERSECTORALITY IN SOCIAL POLICIES: BETWEEN THE FRAGMENTATION OF RESPONSES AND THE TOTALITY OF SOCIAL NEEDS

Abstract

This theoretical essay, based on a bibliographic review, analyzes intersectorality in social policies through the tension between the particular way in which the State organizes its responses and the totality of individuals’ social needs. The discussion is grounded in historical-dialectical materialism and draws on the categories of totality, particularity, contradiction, and mediation. It takes the historical and social constitution of needs and the concrete subject as its starting point to understand how the sectoral organization of policies may produce fragmented responses to situations that do not arise separately in social life. The discussion also examines different conceptions of intersectorality found in the literature and seeks to move its understanding beyond the strictly administrative sphere by situating it within the relationship between policies with their own specific competencies and needs shaped by multiple determinations. From this perspective, intersectorality does not mean eliminating particularities or institutional responsibilities, but rather building connections among distinct responses to needs that do not conform to policy boundaries. Its implementation, however, takes place under concrete conditions of funding, coverage, service organization, and professional practice. It is therefore argued that intersectorality is necessary but insufficient: it can reduce the fragmentation of responses and make gaps in social protection more visible, but it cannot, by itself, overcome the economic, political, and institutional determinations that shape social policies.