1. Brazil: POLITICAL CULTURE, SOCIALIZATION AND RECRUITMENT

2. SystemBrazil

3. Brazilian Political Culture: Origins
Thomastic synthesis of Greeks and St. Augustine
Expansiveness of New World environment
Rousseau

4. Political Culture: Characteristics
Elite Dominated
Emperor Dom Pedro II
(age 61)
Legacy of patrimonialism
Civil society
Emerged in response to authoritarian rule
Political Culture: Characteristics

5. Political Culture: Catholic Religion
Catholic nation; largest number of Catholics in the world
Religious observance among Catholics traditionally low; of little importance electorally
Liberation theology
Ecclesiastical base communities
National Conference
of Brazilian Bishops
National Cathedral: Brasilia

6. Political CULTURE Evangelical Protestants
Candomble
Religious differences in
voting patterns minimal

7. Political Culture of Statism
State permeates society
Compliance and enforcement often arbitrary
Social solidarity movements in favelas
Began as mechanism of state control during military dictatorship (1964 – 85)
Movements evolved into institutions that sought to influence those in authority
Became a force for democratization

8. Gender Machismo and marianismo Under military rule
traditional image and orientations towards politics of women began to change.
Political opportunity followed educational and occupational opportunity.
Authoritarianism had an economic impact on women:
Took the lead in their communities’ struggles for health care and sanitation
Made demands relating to wages and worker rights

9. Racial Democracy: No & Yes
Racial Democracy myth
Racial prejudice embedded in traditional Brazil
Movimento Negro Unificado-The Unified Black Movement Against Racial Discrimination
Affirmative action policies under President Lula

10. Brazilian Political Culture
How democratic?
Not tolerant of authoritarianism
No single vision of what kind of democracy they supported
They distrust politicians, political parties, and democratic institutions more than in the recent past.
Distrust democratic institutions today more than other Latin Americans.
Less aware of their civic rights and responsibilities than most Latin Americans
On the other hand, Brazilians behave in more democratic ways than their answers to surveys may imply
Turn out to vote at higher rates and believe their vote matters more than on average across Latin America

11. Brazilians National Pride

12. Attitudes toward Institutions

13. Political Socialization in Brazil
Changes in the socialization of Women
Economic development and political organization carried over into democratic era
Increased activist orientation of women
Race as a component of political socialization
Print Media
Newspapers – confined to elite
Magazines

14. Socialization and Mass Communication
Impact of Television (access is universal)
Brings politics into Brazilian homes via the horario gratuito
free television time set aside during the election campaigns for the political parties
Individual candidates and parties receive coverage during television news and any televised debates
Telenovelas (prime-time soap operas) .
project themes subtly influence the ways in which people view politicians and institutions.

15. Socialization and Neighborhood
Political learning

16. Recruitment of Political Elites
Traditional political families
Coronales
Fernando Collor de Mello & Jose Sarney
Wealth – especially in South-east and South
Military regime – opportunities for Técnicos
Movement to professional politicians (Fernando Henrique Cardoso)
Labor movement (Luis Ignacio da Silva ‘Lula’)
Inclusion of more women
Luiza Erundina

17. Political Recruitment and Political Participation: Citizen Politics
Blossoming of associations – 8,000 in the late 1970s
Organized movements around
identities,
single issues
political and social rights, most notably those to protect indigenous peoples, the environment, and human rights and to gain land for the landless
Tactics
International allies
Direct confrontation
Use of the courts
Role of NGOs

18. Political Participation as Political Recruitment
Mass political participation
Staggering amount of participation
Elections
Participatory budgeting
Process by which hundreds of thousands of citizens meet in a series of open, public assemblies before the legislative budget cycle begins in order to establish spending priorities

20. Citizen Politics Grassroots church groups
Urban Neighborhood associations (8000)
Professional associations
Countryside (Movement of Landless Rural Workers)
Mass demonstration and confrontational politics
Non-governmental organizations

21. MASS POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
Voting compulsory
Submission of blank ballots (varied between 19% and 31% in 1990’s)
Voting is becoming more inclusive
1960 – 19 million eligible to vote
1998 – 106 million eligible to vote

22. Chart compare