Aim: Within the framework of the research project "Subjectivation and psychic transmission of the role of the father in cases of maltreatment of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (Caldas, North Central Zone)", some thoughts and questions are presented about the relationship between social imagery of the father, paternal imago and paternal function. To this end, the article explores the question of the family bond and its articulation with the social order by means of the relationship between social imaginary and imago. It deals with matters such as the failure of the parental authority and authoritarianism from an ambiguous fatherly image identified in the processes of subjectivation of the paternal function and the establishment of the social order. Conclusions: The decline of the father, or the problem of the paternal role, is a diverse and wide issue that is inscribed in the historical transformations of humanity, which should not be looked at from only a single angle.