This research tries to analyze the social circus, whose purpose is the social inclusion of youngster from impoverished urban areas through the arts of circus. Specifically, delineating some practices developed by non-governmental educational organizations in the context of neo-liberal public policies. For such an undertaking, the following theoretical references were used: Michel Foucault's genealogy, Nietzsche's concept of tragical art, Bakhtin's work on comic humor in popular culture and the work of Brazilian researchers regarding the circus. We inquire: how is the alliance between art and philanthropy being established, in particular with the circus, in decrement of the alliance between science and philanthropy? Would art be under the dominion of a new technology?
circus; disciplinary power; philanthropy; social inclusion