Social assistance policy and the working class in Brazil: challenges and contradictions

Abstract

The objective of this article is to apprehend relations between social assistance policies and the working class in the Brazilian economic and social context. The compensatory nature of social assistance policies is followed by the precariousness of working conditions and the naturalization and individualization of pauperism, which mystify the connection between users and their social class. The apparent disconnection with the working class naturalizes the lack of a guarantee of the right to work and enhances subordination to capital.