Drawing upon the findings of my doctoral research, this article examines social workers’ understanding and interventions related to the promotion of citizenship in Chile. The study involved documentary analysis and 26 semi-structured interviews with social workers who, employed by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), implemented state policy for addressing poverty and social exclusion. The findings indicate that social workers understood citizenship as the exercise of individual rights mainly. At the same time, strategies employed by some social workers to oppose resistance to such neoliberal reworking of citizenship were identified. Suggestions are made with respect to the development of Chilean social work from a critical perspective.