Labor as Supporting Element of Life in Social Welfare Policies’ Practice

Abstract

This study analyzes labor and social services regarding social welfare policies, a topic initially investigated in the author’s Master’s thesis in social and institutional psychology. This research charts the trajectory of a group of social welfare users in regards to labor and income generation within a city of the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The study addresses the problematic theoretical notion about working as production of life and living, based on Marxist and Foucauldian theories, defining labor as a producer of workers of welfare service users and workers of social welfare policies. The study indicates that labor is inscribed within structures of power producing relations of domination and resistance and that psychology and the various interventions of knowledge “psi” may give relevance to this inventive work character.