Religion and Brazilian Democracy

Smith, Amy Erica

doi:10.1017/9781108699655

Cited by 78 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 177 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Evangelical churches are also particularly well equipped to achieve congruence through socialization. Pastors in Brazil are not shy about discussing politics (Smith 2019). Sermons routinely touch on homosexuality, abortion, and other issues in the legislative limelight.…”

Section: Opinion Congruence In Brazilmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We conclude that self-selection via conversion does not explain evangelicals' greater opinion congruence in Brazil. To test whether churches' socialization efforts impose congruence on the evangelical public, we turn to surveys of Catholic and evangelical clergy and congregations conducted as part of the 2014 Churches North and South Project (Smith 2019). The primary location of the project was Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, a medium-sized Brazilian city with a religious composition essentially identical to that of the country as a whole.…”

Section: Mechanisms Of Evangelical Congruence: Conversion or Socializmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

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

Boas

Smith

2019

Lat. American Res. Rev.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Section: Opinion Congruence In Brazilmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mechanisms Of Evangelical Congruence: Conversion or Socializmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Boas

Smith

2019

Lat. American Res. Rev.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Political parties have seldom tried to convey group-based appeals and have been largely unsuccessful when they did try, resulting in rather heterogeneous social bases of support without clear linkages with specific social groups (Mainwaring 1999). Two relevant exceptions could be made with regards to the PT's association with the Northeast (Hunter & Power 2007), and the growing alignment of conservative Evangelicals with the right-wing, and, especially, Jair Bolsonaro (Quadros & Madeira 2018;Smith 2019). In spite of these two examples of regional and religious political alignment, the fact that social identities are generally 'only weakly politicised at best' (Zucco & Power forthcoming, p. 2) means that, even if some social groups are aligned with a particular partisan camp, the social sorting mechanism is unlikely to be a substantive driver of hostility in Brazil.…”

Section: Social Identities In Brazil: Rare and Non-politicisedmentioning

confidence: 99%

'Them' Without 'Us': Negative Identities and Affective Polarisation in Brazil

Areal¹

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

High levels of hostility between those on opposing sides of politics have led to a burgeoning literature on the concept of affective polarisation. Though a globally widespread phenomenon, extant literature has generated theoretical expectations and empirical findings mostly inspired by the United States and Western Europe. By studying the case of Brazil, I argue and show that traditional explanations do not provide satisfactory accounts of affective polarisation in contexts where politics is only weakly structured by ideology or partisan attachments. I argue and show that in such contexts the concept of negative political identities can provide a much better explanation for why politics is so divisive. Using both the 2014 and 2018 waves of the Brazilian Electoral Studies (BES) and independently collected survey data (N = 1,732), I provide robust empirical findings supporting the primacy of negative political identities over traditional hypotheses. Negative identification with the out-party/leader has a strong effect on dislike towards out-voters even when controlling for instrumental evaluations of political elites. This paper contributes to the comparative research agenda on affective polarisation outside Western contexts, as well as to the the study of negative political identities.

show abstract

“…É importante frisar, contudo, que não é apenas a ameaça à própria existência, levada a cabo na discussão em prol da liberdade de consciência, de culto e de religião, que estimula a motivação para a participação na esfera pública da política no Estado. Com o conflito menos evidente entre o catolicismo e o pentecostalismo no início dos anos 2000, a nova agenda em torno das temáticas valorativas do século XXI, como a pauta do aborto e dos direitos LGBT, movimentou os setores evangélicos conservadores (Boas 2019;Smith 2019). Ainda majoritários, embora não unânimes, esse setor entendia o avanço dessa discussão como uma ameaça à sua visão de mundo e estilo de vida.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Secularização, laicidade e espaço público: como pensar a política contemporânea brasileira à luz da religião?

Tanaka

2020

Relig. soc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Resumo: Este artigo discute os limites e usos dos conceitos de secularização, laicidade e espaço público aplicados à política contemporânea brasileira. Analisamos discursos, qualitativamente, feitos por atores políticos durante debates televisivos, posicionamentos públicos e publicações em redes sociais. Descobrimos que figuras públicas conservadoras tendem a mobilizar e interpretar a laicidade com base no argumento de representação de interesses na legitimação da presença religiosa no Estado. Por outro lado, os atores progressistas defendem a separação entre Estado e religião, conferindo uma competência privada à fé. Por fim, atentamos para o fato de que o debate sobre essas noções precisa considerar a forma como os atores as mobilizam, dado que a definição destes termos varia conforme seus interesses e projetos.

show abstract

Religion and Brazilian Democracy

Cited by 78 publications

References 177 publications

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

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

'Them' Without 'Us': Negative Identities and Affective Polarisation in Brazil

Secularização, laicidade e espaço público: como pensar a política contemporânea brasileira à luz da religião?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About