Looks Like Me, Thinks Like Me: Descriptive Representation and Opinion Congruence in Brazil

Abstract

This article argues that descriptive representation, or demographic similarities between legislators and the public, can provide effective substantive representation of citizens' concerns. We examine representation through the lens of opinion congruence or alignment in the policy preferences of legislators and citizens sharing various identities. Congruence may result from shared material interests or from self-selection into an identity group on the basis of policy views, but it can also be a product of networks and organizations that socialize masses and elites into a common worldview. Though political parties were historically the most important agents of political socialization, we argue that religious organizations constitute a more powerful socializing force in many new democracies. Examining the case of Brazil, we draw on three legislative surveys and fifteen mass surveys to analyze congruence across seven issue areas. Legislators and voters from underrepresented groups-women, Afro-Brazilians, evangelical Christians, and those of lower social class-are generally closer in their opinions than those sharing a party or electoral district. Evangelicals are often the most congruent. Analyzing original surveys of congregations and clergy, we argue that this finding results from the socializing role of churches. Sustentamos o argumento de que a representação descritiva, definida como semelhanças demográficas entre os legisladores e o público, pode fornecer uma representação substantiva efetiva das visões políticas dos cidadãos. Examinamos a representação por meio da lente da congruência de opinião, ou seja o alinhamento entre as preferências políticas dos legisladores e as dos cidadãos que compartilham suas identidades. A congruência pode resultar de interesses materiais comuns ou de auto-seleção a um grupo de identidade, mas também pode ser produto de socialização dentro de redes e organizações que constroem uma visão de mundo comum. Embora os partidos políticos fossem historicamente os agentes mais importantes de socialização política, argumentamos que as organizações religiosas constituem uma força de socialização mais poderosa em muitas novas democracias. Examinando o caso do Brasil, utilizamos três pesquisas legislativas e quinze pesquisas com o público para analisar a congruência em sete áreas de opinião. Legisladores e eleitores de grupos sub-representados-mulheres, afro-brasileiros, evangélicos e pessoas de classes sociais mais baixas-são geralmente mais próximos em suas opiniões do que aqueles que compartilham um partido ou distrito eleitoral. Evangélicos são frequentemente os mais congruentes. Analisando pesquisas originais com fiéis e clérigos, argumentamos que essa congruência resulta da função socialização das igrejas.

Is It Race, Class, or Gender? The Sources of Perceived Discrimination in Brazil

“…1 These inequalities have narrowed to some extent since 2000, thanks in large part to the mobilization of Afro-Brazilian communities, yet racial inequalities in particular remain quite large (e.g., Andrews 2014; Salardi 2013). Moreover, there are very large gaps in women's and Afro-Brazilians' representation in elected office (Boas and Smith 2016;Bueno and Dunning 2014;Htun 2002;Jalalzai and dos Santos 2015). Inequalities may be especially large for two intersectionally defined groups: Afro-Brazilian women are disadvantaged in a great variety of outcomes and can be targets of police violence (Bernardino-Costa 2014; Marcondes et al 2013; Rezende and Lima 2004;Smith 2014), and racial disparities are larger among the middle to upper classes and those with a university education (Bailey et al 2013;Cacciamala and Hirata 2005;Osório 2008;Ribeiro 2006;Santos 2005;Telles 2004).…”

Cómo medir la congruencia comparando tres medidas en América Central

“…Cada vez más, los interesados en las nuevas democracias han utilizado este mismo enfoque a medida que los datos de estos países han ido estando disponibles. Se puede ver, por ejemplo, un crecimiento significativo en el uso de la congruencia para estudiar la representación en América Latina (Luna y Zechmeister, 2005;Siavelis, 2009;Kitschelt et al, 2010;Otero Felipe y Rodríguez Zepeda, 2010;Buquet y Selios, 2017;Boas y Smith, 2019). Si bien creemos que estos análisis contribuyen a la comprensión de la congruencia y la representación en la región, hemos tratado de contribuir a esta literatura creciente comparando tres medidas de congruencia.…”

Affluence and Congruence: Unequal Representation around the World

“…We analyze congruence in two ways. Our preferred method is to generate dyads between each mass respondent and each elite respondent in a particular country-year (see Boas and Smith 2019). We measure congruence as the left-right distance between each citizen-legislator pair and 13 The U.S. is not in our dataset because no publicly available survey of Members of Congress has been conducted since Miller and Stokes (1963)-and their study did not ask a left-right item.…”