Abstract

In this contribution we intend to present two experiences that differ in place and time in objectives and modalities though united by a theoretical framework of reference and by the use of research tools that focus on people, on their knowledge and skills and place researchers in a decentralized position, at the edge of the field but still necessarily part of it. The comparison between these two experiences offers interesting ideas for a possible hybridization between sociology and pedagogy applied to the life stories and narratives of the people who, for various reasons, ‘inhabit’ the services. In the first case we talk about a situated research and training project concerns a heterogeneous working group composed of social workers, students, people admitted to services and university researchers. In the second case we talk about about a training and awareness raising project for operators and users of the Caritas Listening Center. Both cases are characterized by a reading consideration of the contexts that refers to some interpretative paradigms: the ‘subjectivation’ of members of the group; the ‘re-meaning’ and ‘reconceptualization’ of categories and classifications in social policies to describe and define interventions; the co-construction of organizational knowledge.