Plans and plays

This article is structured around two concepts - planning (as the attempt to predict the future through reason) and play (as freedom in the present) - used to discuss work processes, organizational forms, institutionality and the management of public institutions in the social field, with an emphasis on the fields of health and education. Based on Nietzche's reflection regarding the mythological figures of Dionysus and Apollo, a synthesis of the development of planning in Latin America is carried out with the aid of works by Carlos Matus and Mario Testa. From this perspective, play is analyzed over the course of history, in addition to the proposal of Homo ludens and the unrecognized role of play in the day life of social institutions. However, understanding the game does not guarantee that the forms of playing it will change. Therein lie the complexity and challenges that must be considered in relation to structures that are both structuring and structured by the actions of their agents, in the framework of processes of reproduction and social domination that naturalize current institutional forms.