Downhill paths for citizenship in Brazil: moving between social welfare models under the aegis of financialized capitalism

• Grant number: 24/13214-3
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - Brazil
• Start date: March 06, 2025
• End date: November 05, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Economics - Social Welfare Economics
• Principal Investigator: Ruy Gomes Braga Neto
• Grantee: Ruy Gomes Braga Neto
• Visiting researcher: Maria Helena Lavinas de Morais
• Visiting researcher institution: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Instituto de Economia, Brazil
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Since the turn of the century, the welfare system anchored in the 1988 Constitution has been undergoing an unprecedented restructuring process, with the growing assetization of social provision as its defining feature, leading to the dismantling of the social model agreed upon in the years of redemocratization. This research project assumes that the first wave of financialization of social policy, which gained traction in 2003, enters now a new stage, under the Lula 3 administration, which more openly institutes capitalization and the multiplication of asset classes as a mechanism for welfare provision, at the initiative of the state. In the first wave, the capitalization of pensions and the collateralization of social benefits prevailed (Lavinas 2017; 2020), stimulating the expansion of "individual" credit. This resulted in a new phenomenon, the very high and constant level of household indebtedness to ensure their social reproduction (Lavinas 2022; Lavinas & Mader, 2024). As such, they became a pillar of the process of financial accumulation and expropriation. The current stage is a step forward: the issuance of bonds by the Treasury, in parallel with the growing prominence of private equity funds and institutional investors, and the use of public-private partnerships (PPPs) seems to usher in an unprecedented role for social policy, which is becoming assetized, completely redefining its complementarity with the financialized accumulation regime. We are thus witnessing a shift in the subsumption of social reproduction to interest-bearing capital and fictitious capital. New categories of risk emerge and undermine the idea of a redistributive welfare system that aspires to universal rights (Lavinas & Gonçalves 2024). This project aims to map and analyze the ongoing transition between welfare provision models in 21st century Brazil, adopting the premise of the financialization of social policy and its consequences for emancipatory and redistributive rationales. Its aim is to continue (through the publication of a book) a critical examination of the legacy of the Workers' Party administrations at the head of the Federal Executive in the transformation of the current social model, the first interpretation of which, referring to the years 2003-2016, was consolidated in my book The Takeover of Social Policy by Financialization: The Brazilian paradox, (London: Palgrave Macmillan 2017). The goal is to scrutinize how the process of "reconstruction" of the public sphere, the motto of the Lula 3 administration, is taking place, with a focus on the remake of the social model. The question is whether the previous trajectory of the financialization of social policy tends to be resumed, extended and deepened, or whether there are signs of a reversal of this trend, with the strengthening of the public fund in accordance with the precepts of the 1988 social model. In order to bring this project to a successful conclusion, I intend to 1) develop a broad-spectrum methodology to grasp the nature and impact of the actions/initiatives, regulations and institutional framework carried out in the field of macroeconomic policy and social policy by the Lula 3 administration (2023-2026); 1.2.) identify the state and non-state actors involved in the preservation/reconfiguration of the social model; 2) capture the impacts on social provision, highlighting financing, reformatting policies/programs and estimating their redistributive reach. As a visiting researcher, I will be able to deepen the remarkable academic and intellectual cooperation that I have been pursuing with researchers from USP. Since 2021, I am a regular member of the Thought and Politics in Brazil Research Group, coordinated by Prof. André Singer, which is part of CENEDIC, where I am also an associate researcher. The reflection on the assetization of social policy has also benefited from the exchange with Prof. Leda Paulani (FEA) with whom I have collaborated on articles. (AU)