“Terceiro setor”: funcionalidade de sua intervenção sobre a “questão social” no capitalismo contemporâneo

Abstract

This paper analyzes the process of consolidation of the intervention of the "third sector" on the expressions of the "social question" in contemporary capitalism and its main characteristics in Brazil. In order to make explicit this process of expansion of the institutions of the "third sector" and its action on the "social question" we rescue the foundations of the modern state; the historical material determinations of the "social question" and the demands of productive restructuring, of neoliberalism in the face of the configuration of the structural crisis of capital in the 1970s. The research carried out is of bibliographic and documentary nature, we have in the historicalcritical perspective, in the social theory of Karl Marx the reference of analysis. The research followed the following methodological procedures: selection of classical and contemporary works, dissertations and theses on the subject, as well as documents and social legislation regarding the "third sector"; reading relevant bibliography and documents; preparation of summaries and summaries; structuring, preparation and final writing of the dissertation. We start from the assumption that the configuration of the "third sector" in contemporary capitalism is linked to a pragmatic and utilitarian perspective of the world, based on charity, philanthropy and volunteerism, and which denies the apprehension of the foundation of social inequality articulated to continuous reproduction of the capital system. We conclude from the research that the "third sector" as one of the intervention strategies on the "social question" complexly articulates the relationship between the State and the market, consolidating itself in function of the structural crisis and its neoliberal response. Thus, in practice, it provides predominantly actions and services for the more impoverished segments of the working class that are affected by unemployment, precarious working and living conditions. We address the social function and peculiarity (characteristics and legitimacy) of these institutions that expand worldwide and in Brazil from the 1990s. We highlight a series of legal mechanisms created to guarantee legal and institutional security essential for the protection of property, administration of services and actions carried out by "third sector" institutions. We emphasize in the course of the dissertation that given the flexibility of the structure and legislation of the organizations of the "third sector" they are economically attractive, becoming one of the elements that justify its expansion. Finally, research allows us to affirm that the "third sector" only manages the "social question", thereby falsifying the contradictions that determine it, fosters reconciliation between classes, helping to maintain the hegemony of capital control over the reproduction of the working class and impoverished segments of society.