Resumen

The paper article aims to analyze the recent reforms in Latin American welfare regimes. The region has experienced important advances in their social protection systems, which enabled the inclusion of vulnerable and historically unprotected social segments. However, it seems that this virtuous cycle has been interrupted recently. In the context of 2008 global financial crisis and conservative governments rise, policies dismantling measures were applied by many governments. How did those measures affect the social protection systems? What conditions have been favoring the policy dismantling? The present text proposes to bring some analytical perspectives in order to understand the ongoing reforms process. Although the study recognizes the heterogeneity of Latin American countries, it emphasizes the general aspects present in recent reforms, underlining specificities only whenever they are significant. The analytical framework dialogues with welfare regimes and policy dismantling theories, presenting the current debate on the Latin American social protection systems’ specificities when compared to developed countries. The article considers the international context, regarding especially to transformations on world of work and the era of “permanent austerity”. But it recognizes that countries deal with these global constraints in different ways, as a result from the combination of different aspects, such as the previous policies legacy, states capacities in providing welfare, democracy and levels of political and social class mobilization, varieties of capitalism and models of development. The study highlights three core dimensions: a) the trajectory of social protection systems in Latin America, understood as an expression of relations between the State, society and the market in facing the social issue at different historical periods; b) the social, political and institutional conditions that make inclusive social public policies possible in the 2000s; c) some aspects such as the political environment and the governamental strategies adopted to promote a turn towards the policies dismantling.

Palabras Clave (separar con comas)

Social Policy, Brazil,  Policy Dismantling

Resumen

According to literature, one characteristic of the social welfare in Latin American countries is the importance of families in maintaining financially their members, including young people during their formation in higher education. This characteristic is presented on the Brazilian inclusive social policies and their legislation regarding policies to access states universities in order to guarantee conclusion to students from vulnerable social groups whose has been historically excluded from opportunities to access higher education due to social inequalities and poverty. Said policies include not only scholarships based on family income as well as other types of social support as university housing, food policy with canteens and so on. The access criteria are related to family monthly income per capita and a threshold is defined by a national regulation. This work aims to analyse the influence of the family group over the access and guarantees to conclusion of university students attended by the Students’ Welfare Policy. It is a study deductive by nature and based on a quantitative methodology with data extracted by the application of an online questionnaire to a sample of students from two Brazilian federal universities. A bibliographic analysis was developed about the socio economic profile of university students and the national criteria. The main conclusion point out that the extension of the family group is an element of relative importance on the access and guarantees to conclusion, despite the fact that the specifics regulations of said Policy give to the families the sharing of responsibilities regarding access to Student Welfare Programs and guarantees to conclusion.

Palabras Clave (separar con comas)

Students’ Welfare Policy, Access, guarantees to conclusion, Federal university.

Resumen

The research analyzes Brazilian federal legislation that deals with the rights of people with disabilities, including the 1988 Federal Constitution, Law No. 8.742/1993, Law No. 10.048/2000 and Law No. 13.146/2015, thus presenting the context of the contradictions presented by neoliberalism and social movements. The study uses an analysis of laws and academic articles to examine the issue comprehensively. In Brazil, the recognition of disability as a human rights issue is recent. For a long time, the predominant approach followed the biomedical perspective, where people with disabilities were stigmatized due to the perception of their bodies as "defective", assigning responsibility for care mainly to families and philanthropic institutions. However, there have been changes in this paradigm, especially with the re-democratization of the country. The 1988 Constitution marked a turning point by establishing, in article 203, a Social Assistance Policy integrated into Social Security, including protection for the elderly and people with disabilities. Among the legislation that addresses this issue, the following stand out: Law No. 13.146/2015 on the Statute for People with Disabilities, Law No. 8.742/1993 which sets out monthly benefits and Law No. 10.048/2000 on priority care. Furthermore, neoliberalism in Brazil intensified in the 1990s, influencing the country's social policies. Although they don't focus on redistributing wealth and serve the interests of capital and the state for social control, they also emerge from popular mobilizations, resulting in the expansion of social rights and citizenship. It should be pointed out that social policies are intrinsically contradictory and are in constant dispute, and this work does not seek to exhaust this discussion. Understanding these issues is fundamental for Social Work, as it drives professional action in line with the interests of the working class and the ethical-political project.

Palabras Clave (separar con comas)

Person with disabilities, Social Assistance Policy, Social Policy, Social Work

Resumen

In unequal societies like Brazil, it is essential that higher education prepares professionals committed to the public good, with social responsibility and capable of contributing to justice, democracy and sustainable development. This is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which bring the concept of global citizenship, related to the defense of tolerance, mutual respect and peacebuilding. In the last twenty years, Brazil has advanced in terms of inclusion and equity, investing in public policies to democratize access to higher education, with emphasis on the Quota Law of 2012 and the University for All Program (Prouni) of 2004. In this context, the role of Social Workers in social policies developed in Brazilian universities is growing. Despite the investment in policies to democratize access, it is still necessary to research the contribution of these policies to the citizenship training. After more than a decade of affirmative action policies, little is known about the effects of diversity on university campuses and their classrooms. In view of this, the research problematizes: do higher education courses that are more heterogeneous in terms of diversity in the social, economic, cultural and ethnic profile of students contribute more significantly to the training of professionals committed to the public good? Methodologically it is a mixed research: the quantitative step is based on data from the ENADE (National Student Performance Exam) and the qualitative stage is developed with focus groups. The research is under development and, as partial results of the quantitative stage, it was found that heterogeneous classes tend to provide better student learning and performance. In the next stage of the investigation, students' perception of the public good professionalism received at university graduation will be analyzed, correlating it with the social, economic, cultural and ethnic profile of their classes.

Palabras Clave (separar con comas)

Higher education policies, public good, diversity at university, students' profile.