The participation of civil society organizations in social assistance: analysis of the relationships between the narratives of socio-state actors and institutional arrangements

Abstract

The purpose of this research project to be developed at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona is to deepen the theoretical and methodological aspects of the ongoing doctoral research, which aims to analyze the relationships between two dimensions of the study of the participation of Organizations of Civil Society (OSC) in social assistance policy: narratives on the participation of CSOs in social assistance policy and the institutional arrangements that organize the actions of these actors in this policy. In methodological terms, in the doctoral research, proposed to approach this problem from a case study in the "one-policy, three-cities" format, analyzing three different profiles of municipalities: (I) with a strong presence of organizations in decision-making spaces and in the execution of services (São Paulo); (II) with a "moderate" presence of organizations (Belo Horizonte); (III) with little presence of social assistance organizations (Fortaleza). In analytical terms, it will be produced articulations between the fields of Social Psychology, mainly the one that studies the production of meanings and narrative constructions (to analyze the agency and discourses of state actors); and Public Policies, specifically the historical neo-institutionalist literature (to understand the institutional aspects that encompass the process of formulation and implementation of policies). During the doctoral internship, we intend to improve these two important aspects of the research:(a) deepen the theoretical approximations between the literature of both fields, and (b) improve the methodological design of the research, especially the comparative aspect of this case study. (AU)