This article has stemmed from three interconnected researches carried out in the metropolitan area of Porto Alegre/RS/Brazil from 2005 to 2010. From the perspective of post-structuralist Cultural and Gender Studies, and considering gender and vulnerability as theoretical and methodological tools, we investigated three governmental programs for "social inclusion". The investigation was based on the question: Do the notions of family produced, spread and modified within the programs contribute to the (re)production, reduction or maintenance of the very vulnerability the programs aim at reducing? Based on this analysis, we have argued that those programs operate with a framework that institutes 'the' family as the major target of 'social inclusion' and they focus on certain individuals and social groups, making them responsible for both complex social problems and their solution.
Public Policies for Social Inclusion; Family; Gender; Vulnerability