The Social Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfers: Brazil’s Bolsa Família Experience

Yıl 2025, Sayı: 89, 64 - 82, 13.01.2026

Esra Çolak

https://doi.org/10.26650/jspc.2025.89.1764143

https://izlik.org/JA66ES44WM

Öz

This article examines Brazil’s Bolsa Família program, implemented since 2003, as a case of social assistance policy, analyzing its multifaceted impacts on poverty alleviation, access to education and health services, and gender equality. Rather than focusing solely on the program’s quantitative outcomes, the study engages with its institutional limitations and structural implications. Anchored in Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach, the analysis explores the program’s potential to transform individual lives, while drawing on Foucault’s notions of biopower and surveillance to assess its disciplinary dimensions. Although the program has achieved significant short-term outreach, its capacity to produce lasting change in poverty and inequality remains limited. The article highlights the importance of assessing social policy not only through statistical indicators but also through its potential for qualitative transformation. Ultimately, it argues that conditional cash transfer programs must be critically re-evaluated not just as mechanisms for behavioral compliance but also as tools for empowering individuals and expanding substantive freedoms.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Social assistance , conditional cash transfers , Bolsa Família , capability approach , biopower , social policy

Koşullu Nakit Transferlerinin Toplumsal Etkileri: Brezilya’da Bolsa Família Deneyimi

https://izlik.org/JA66ES44WM

Öz

Bu çalışma, Brezilya’da 2003 yılından bu yana uygulanan Bolsa Família programını sosyal yardım politikalarının bir örneği olarak ele almakta ve programın yoksullukla mücadele, eğitim, sağlık hizmetlerine erişim ve toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliği üzerindeki etkilerini çok boyutlu bir biçimde değerlendirmektedir. Çalışma, yalnızca programın niceliksel başarılarını değil, aynı zamanda kurumsal sınırlarını ve yapısal etkilerini de tartışmaya açmaktadır. Bu çerçevede, Amartya Sen’in yetenekler yaklaşımı temel alınarak sosyal yardımların bireylerin yaşamlarını dönüştürme kapasitesi irdelenmiş, Foucault’nun biyoiktidar ve gözetim kavramlarıyla programın disiplin edici yönleri analiz edilmiştir. Programın kısa vadeli erişim başarısına rağmen, bireyleri kalıcı olarak yoksulluktan çıkarma ve toplumsal eşitsizlikleri dönüştürme konularında sınırlılıklar taşıdığı ortaya konmuştur. Ayrıca sosyal politikaların etkilerini yalnızca istatistiksel verilerle değil, niteliksel dönüşüm potansiyelleriyle değerlendirme gerekliliği vurgulanmaktadır. Sonuç olarak, koşullu nakit transfer programlarının bireysel davranışları yönlendirme kapasitesi kadar, bireyleri güçlendirme ve toplumsal özgürlükleri artırma kabiliyetinin de eleştirel bir gözle yeniden düşünülmesi gerektiği savunulmaktadır. 

Anahtar Kelimeler

Sosyal yardım , koşullu nakit transferleri , Bolsa Família , yetenekler yaklaşımı , biyoiktidar , sosyal politika

Kaynakça

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