Taking as a reference point current patterns in relationships between society and the State, the article discusses social protection systems and prospects for social reforms in Latin America. Two approaches found in the literature on this topic are analyzed and questioned. In classifying the region's different social protection systems, the firstapproach adoptstypologiesreferred to the different modalities of Welfare State. The second identifies a supposed crisis of the Welfare State on the international stage, one that is seen as necessrily expressed in Latin American social protection systems through the extension of the neoliberal economic conception to this field. Based on a conceptual discussion and empirical references, the author questions both approaches andconcludes by attempting to show that Latin America's complex reality demands a theoretical and methodological treatment compatible with the scenario of structural heterogeneity prevalent in this region.