From regulated citizenship to universalization: Brazilian social service policy as a rising paradigm of inclusive social policy

Abstract

This article shows how — on a regional landmark of social policy changes in the direction of focalization, privatization, deregulation, subvention and demand — social services in Brazil (and especially in São Paulo) advances toward a paradigmatic transformation in the opposite political direction, that of the assurance of citizens’
right. It also shows how, based on need (and not on demand), there is access to a wide array of goods and social services — from income transference to mechanisms that allow the excluded to have access to society’s opportunities. The article presents the history of social services and its ties to the movement of social service as a profession.