Social policy: from its genesis to the Brazilian context

Abstract

This paper aims to present the genesis of social policy, from the first Law of the Poor in the fourteenth century to the neoliberal context of social policies in Brazil. A documentary and bibliographic study was carried out. In the fourteenth century lies the first law on poverty in Britain, which can be considered as one of the first social policies in the world. Until the eighteenth century other laws came to combat poverty, but much more punitive than welfare. The nineteenth century is marked by capitalism and the social struggle of the workers in search of rights. From the twentieth century to the present day, social policies have been linked to liberalism and neoliberalism. In the Brazilian context, social policies do not reach the objective of combating poverty, with palliative actions such as compensatory policies.