A crise da PrevidÃncia Social configura atualmente uma das maiores preocupaÃÃes das naÃÃes. Os dÃficits dos sistemas previdenciÃrios pÃblicos estÃo a exigir dos Governos o repensar da estrutura e do regime de financiamento como imperativo para assegurar a solvÃncia dos mesmos. Esta dissertaÃÃo traz uma breve discussÃo sobre aspectos teÃricos relacionados ao regime de financiamento e, especificamente, sobre aspectos histÃricos e legais da PrevidÃncia Social brasileira, procurando destacar os impactos de variÃveis macroeconÃmicas e demogrÃficas que modelam o regime de repartiÃÃo simples como forma de financiar o sistema, apontando, na seqÃÃncia da anÃlise, os objetivos das reformas constitucionais de 1998 e 2003, as quais, embora nÃo tenham ocasionado uma mudanÃa estrutural do regime de financiamento, promoveram alteraÃÃes na legislaÃÃo previdenciÃria brasileira que visam tornar o Regime Geral de PrevidÃncia Social viÃvel no horizonte de longo prazo. / Nowadays the crisis of the Social Welfare is a major concern worldwide. The deficits of social security state systems are to demand rethinking of the structure of the Governments and of the financing regime as imperative to assure the solvency of the same ones. This dissertation brings a brief discussion on theoretical aspects related to the financing regime and, specifically, on historical and legal aspects of the Brazilian Social Welfare trying to highlight the impacts of macro-economical and demographical variables that they make the Pay-As-You-Go as form of financing the system, pointing, in the sequence of the analysis, the objectives of the one of the constitutional reforms of 1998 and 2003, the ones which, although they have not caused a structural change of the financing regime, they promoted changes in the Brazilian legislation system that they seek to turn the General Social Welfare Regime make feasible in a long-term run.

This study examines the impact welfare regimes might have on the individual’s social network – more specifically, the study investigates the individuals' number of social contacts and the diversity in their social networks. Are there differences in the individual's social network between the different welfare regimes? Does this correlate with the social safety nets provided by the different regimes? The study also aims to compare the strength of this correlation with other variables such as gender, age, educational level, partnership, and employment. This study is based on research theories of social capital, social contacts, and social welfare regimes. The study is quantitative in its nature and uses secondary data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) 2017. The method used are two different binary multiple logistic regression models. The first regression model examines the number of social contacts and the second one network diversity. The results indicate that there is a correlation between the number of social contacts, network diversity and welfare regimes. According to this study the stronger the social safety net is, the less diversified the individual’s social network is - and the lower the number of social contacts. This is particularly evident among older individuals in the population. Furthermore, this study suggests that partnership, education,and employment are influential variables for network diversity and the number of social contacts. The study contributes to an understanding on how the social security of welfare regimes tends to reduce individuals' need of creating and maintaining their own social networks. This area, separate from social capital, can contribute to better understanding on how, for example, social isolation can emerge from a macro perspective. However, we recommend further research in this area to provide deeper insight on the effects that may arise.