SOCIAL POLICY AND THE PERSPECTIVES OF CITIZENSHIP: a scenario of conflict and social co-optation

Abstract

 This article discusses social policy in Brazil and the history of the construction of citizenship highlighting aspects of the relationship between State and Social Assistance in the light of the process of social participation in a movement and dynamics that involves the social issue, poverty and alternative forms of effective social rights. For that, a theoretical essay was made based on the study of José Murilo de Carvalho (2002); Mestriner (2011); Telles (2006) and Wanderley (2004). The result showed that although there is a relevant engagement and social struggles in the construction of social policies, the characteristics are of a forged, conflicted citizenship, embedded in a scenario of social cooptation, with strong evidences of disarticulation of the masses.