Money, Personal Autonomy, Citizenship. Effects of the Programa Bolsa Família on Its Participants

Abstract

The paper briefly presents the results of a five-year field research project (2006 to 2011) studying the moral and political transformations amongst extremely poor women participating in the Brazilian Programa Bolsa Família (PBF). Our fundamental hypothesis was that regular monetary income would generate individual growth and an increase in personal autonomy and political inclusion. We analyse the interviews by way of a phenomenology of poverty in Brazil. © Sociologický ústav AV CR, v. v. i., 2014.