ABSTRACT Agriculture, urbanization, and industrialization are some of the anthropogenic activities that constantly generate negative impacts on natural environments. Part of this degradation directly affects aquatic systems. This study aimed to evaluate the visual characteristics of the Araras Stream, located in the municipality of Araras, São Paulo state, Brazil. Data was collected at six different assessment sites along the river in both rural and urban areas. The evaluation used a Rapid Habitat Diversity Assessment (RHDA) protocol composed of 22 parameters, which define levels of preservation of ecological conditions. According to this protocol, the 32 Km-long study transect along the Araras Stream was rated as impacted (39.6 points). A separate assessment by transects showed that only Transect 1 presented a natural level of preservation (71.8 points). Transects located in the urban area contributed the most to impacts on the aquatic environment. The RHDA protocol proved to be an important tool to evaluate and monitor aquatic environments.

Resumo Este artigo busca resgatar a questão do radicalismo democrático na teoria de Gramsci, o qual afirma a necessidade de instauração de uma sociedade auto regulada em que a divisão entre governantes e governados será eliminada e as classes subalternas serão elevadas à condição de protagonistas, dirigentes e responsáveis da sua própria história. As formulações gramscianas contribuem para refletir sobre as possibilidades de consolidação e avanço da direção estratégica do atualmente hegemônico projeto ético-político do Serviço Social.

Abstract This article reviews the issue of democratic radicalism in Gramscian theory, which affirms the need to establish a self-regulated society in which the division between the governed and the government would be eliminated and the subaltern classes would be raised to the condition of protagonists and leaders and become responsible for their own history. The Gramscian formulations contribute to a reflection on the possibilities for consolidation and advance of the strategic direction of the currently hegemonic ethical-political project of social service.

O artigo busca analisar as particularidades do processo de redemocratização dos regimes políticos latino-americanos, tentando contribuir para o esclarecimento de fenômenos hoje centrais na compreensão destas sociedades e, conseqüentemente, do solo onde se desenvolvem as práticas do Serviço Social. Desde os anos 1980, a tentativa da América Latina em reorganizar sua vida pública em conformidade com os preceitos democráticos liberais demonstrou uma desigualdade de forças políticas na negociação desta transição, onde avanços políticos foram acompanhados pelo agravamento das condições de vida das maiorias nacionais. Como o Serviço Social crítico surge - historicamente - no marco de ordenamentos democráticos, a conformação da profissão relaciona-se intrinsecamente com as debilidades deste processo, onde emergem novos desafios para construção da identidade dos assistentes sociais, principalmente no debate do sentido da sua prática, do processo de conhecimento crítico e no redimensionamento de propostas relevantes na defesa de um projeto socialmente necessário no contexto latino-americano atual.

This article analyses the particularities of the redemocratization process of Latin American political regimes, in an attempt to contribute to the understanding of phenomenon central to our societies today. Since the 1980's, the attempt by Latin America to reorganize its public life in conformity with liberal democratic precepts demonstrated an inequality of political forces in the negotiation of this transition, where political advances were accompanied by the deterioration of living conditions among national majorities. Since critical Social Work historically arose in the framework of democratic regulations, the formation of the profession was intrinsically related to the weaknesses of this process, from which emerge new challenges to the construction of the identity of social workers, principally in the debate over the meaning of the practice, of the process of critical knowledge and of the redimensioning of the relevant proposals in the defense of a socially necessary project in the current Latin American context.