The conception of poverty underlying brazil’s family allowance program in lula’s government: towards the construction of citizenship?

Abstract

This article examines the conception of poverty underlying Brazil’s
Family Allowance Program – Programa Bolsa Familia – during the two mandates of President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. Supported on bibliographical and documentary research, the main purpose is to verify whether the Program is essentially made up of compensatory arrangements or whether it provides real access to citizenship opportunities. The main conclusions are that in the Family Allowance Program’s implementation, 1) the “concrete positivity” of the poor is not considered; 2) poverty is not faced as a multifaceted phenomenon; 3) the program does not help poor people to build conditions for the exercise of active citizenship.