Social security has transited for several stages since the mutualism promoted by
workers, until the compulsory social security and the universal services guaranteed
by the government. Those traditions has concentrated in two models: the
Beveridge model and the Bismarck model; however, those paradigms are revealed
as insufficient to guaranteed the security of workers and the ones who do not have
enough resources. The main proposal of this article is that the working structure
transformations that have occurred make necessary the change of social security
paradigms. In order to develop the main theme, this article is divided in several
parts: the first one is oriented to the conceptual delimitations and the description
of the prevailing models; the second one is dedicated to identify the weaknesses
of the Ecuadorian system; and the third one is directed to identify the necessary elements of the construction of a new paradigm in order to build a collective social
security.