Social services and institutional practices provided to highway wanderers

Author(s)

Eurípedes Costa do Nascimento ^[1] ; José Sterza Justo ^[2]

Affiliation

^[1] Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho. Departamento de Psicologia Evolutiva, Social e Escolar. de Pesquisa Psicologia e Instituições - Brasil

^[2] Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho. Departamento de Psicologia Evolutiva, Social e Escolar. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia - Brasil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Estudos de Psicologia (Campinas); v. 31, n. 4, p. 573-582, 2014-12-00.

Abstract

In a contemporary context, highway wanderers can be seen as one of the most radical expressions of a break from socially fixed niches, travelling on foot along Brazil's highways and, when emergency needs must be met, seeking support from institutional care services. This study seeks to identify which institutional practices are provided to highway wanderers by social services, based on reports by managers of such services. The research was carried out at four institutional care services in the state of São Paulo , through the application of semi-structured interviews. The results show that the institutional practices provided to highway wanderers by social services include disciplinary techniques involving power and knowledge applied by means of procedures and rules that impose obedience along with an inspection of their bodies and a search of their belongings. In conclusion, the social service practices that are provided to highway wanderers become strategic tools of power and control over the bodies and itinerant lives, seeking to subsume such a subjectifying process within disciplinary techniques. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 09/00641-0 - Wandering in the contemporary: a study about the perception of managers and professional of attendance institutions in relation to the highway wanderers.
• Grantee: Eurípedes Costa do Nascimento
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate