Vulnerabilidad y ética de la investigación social: perspectivas actuales

The purpose of this article is to address the issue of the inclusion of vulnerable individuals and groups in social sciences research. In recent years has increased the bibliography devoted to analyze the concept of vulnerability in biomedical research. However, in the specific field of social sciences research remains a topic rarely addressed in specialized bibliography and ethical guidelines, although much of the social research involves extremely vulnerable individuals and groups. In this article I will analyze, in the first place, how it has been addressed the concept of vulnerability in the most important guidelines of bioethics and research ethics. Then, I will present the main perspectives on vulnerability in biomedical and social research ethics; and I will point out the scope and limitations of these perspectives. Towards the end of the article I will develop a concept of vulnerability more suitable for the ethical analysis of social research than the current concepts.