(Des)Proteção Social e Saúde Mental : as faces perversas das políticas públicas e as implicações para trabalhadores e usuários

Abstract

This thesis, linked to the Graduate Program in Social Work at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, aimed to investigate social protection within capitalist sociability, as well as the manifestations of social protection and lack thereof and their interface with mental health. Grounded in qualitative methodology and the dialectical-critical method, it analyzed the implications of these manifestations for workers (19 subjects) and users (18 subjects) of social assistance and mental health policies in the city of Porto Alegre, with these users having experienced processes of street homelessness. It also sought to understand the coping strategies and intervention alternatives employed by the subjects. The analyses indicate that the term "social protection" presents a dual meaning that goes beyond its semantic definition: from the perspective of public policies, there is much more of a pacification of subjects rather than actual social protection for the working class. In a neoliberal state, the political expression of capitalism, there is an emphasis on individualism, meritocracy, the overexploitation of labor, the minimization of labor rights and securities, the dismantling of public services, the withdrawal of state responsibility, and the outsourcing of public policies. Consequently, social unprotection expands, exacerbating psychological distress both among the working class that relies on public policies and among the workers who implement them. Thus, in response to the research problem, the main perverse facet of (un)protection manifests itself when it is disguised as a guarantee of rights, aiming to obscure the division of the working class, perpetuate institutional violence, hinder access and/or accessibility, maintain the imposed social order, control vulnerable bodies, contribute to the physical and mental deterioration of the working class, and, in extreme cases, lead to death. A new social order is urgently needed for true social protection to exist, addressing the production of inequalities and social unprotection—intrinsic aspects of the capitalist system.