Social Issue and Assistance in the formation of Brazil: the role of the police.

Abstract

This article is the result of documentary research carried out to obtain the degree of Doctor in Social Work. It was evidenced in the documentation analyzed that social assistance should be considered a “policy” of the State, aimed at confronting urban poverty and working world planning, already in the second half of the nineteenth century and, that police institutions appear as one of the executors and ideal- izers of these practices. Our study allows us to state that social assis- tance was an important factor in the consolidation of the nation state and in the “civilization” of the city of Rio de Janeiro. We identified the logics present in the social practices and knowledge built by the po- lice that influenced the formulation of laws, public administration, and the management of care institutions to address urban poverty. We will discuss how social assistance is historically a legitimizing mechanism of the State and an expression of the social question in the formation of Brazil.