Stigma, humiliation and social control among beneficiaries of the Bolsa Família

Abstract

In this article we intend to analyze the parameters from which representations and practices are
constructed between the “street bureaucrats” and the “poor”. Among the research objectives,
we first seek to understand how program candidates interpret and negotiate with program
operators the categories assigned by them. Second, we seek to explore the extent to which the
group of beneficiaries is perceived by itself and perceived as a differentiated social group in the
enrollment sector. In this sense, three questions guide our analysis: 1) What values are applied by beneficiaries and candidates to justify their participation in the Program? and 2) Are they subject to constraints and/or controls that are particularly related to their status as state dependents? To answer these questions, we conducted 70 interviews with Bolsa Família program beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries in a periphery of Rio de Janeiro. Among the research findings, we identified that there is moral disqualification and that the interviewees feel (in some contexts and not in the totality of their trajectories) stigmatized for being beneficiaries of an income transfer policy.