The biographical approach emerged during a decade between the '20s and '30s in the school of Chicago as a way to
introduce complexity in the studies about monopolized subjectivities, which up to then had been conducted using
quantitative studies derived from the natural sciences. In Chile, during the eighties, this perspective grew rapidly in
order to "lend voice to those without voice": women, peasants and workers, among others. The article reviews the
use of this approach in Chile, from a different social and political context, to contribute to the discussion of its pertinence
and limitations for the emerging Social Sciences. The first part reviews the concepts, the schools of thought
and the dimensions (ethical, ontological, epistemological and methodological); the second part examines what is
being studied and how, and the treatment of the dimensions of time and change used in these studies. Finally, we
contribute with an analysis of its limitations and benefits, in order to enhance and strengthen an approach that
purports to include complexity in studies about subjectivity in Chile.