Austerity and financialization: the construction of the reformist discourse in the Brazilian social security field

Abstract

This article seeks to outline a panorama in the construction of reformist discourses in the Brazilian social security field after the 1988 Federal Constitution, unveiling the ideologies present in such discourses. The study conducted an analysis of the explanatory statements that justify constitutional amendment proposals submitted to the Brazilian parliament. The theoretical and methodological method was critical discourse analysis (CDA), seeking to answer to what extent the conceptions of austerity and financialization permeate the process of construction of the discourses that justify the proposition of the Brazilian social security reforms. The results indicate that capitalist ideologies guided by the logic of financialization and austerity appear in the construction of the reformist discourses, which demonstrates their influence on the authors and suggests the affiliation of the reforms to these hegemonic conceptions. It is concluded that CDA is an important tool to understand the processes that involve public policies, from its formulation to its evaluation.

Keywords:
social security; critical discourse analysis; austerity; financialization; social policy