Unequal City, Unequal Attitudes: Citizenship and Public Goods in São Paulo

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Abstract

How does the distribution of state services and resources within a city affect the democratic attitudes of its citizens? Increased access to state resources such as healthcare and education in democratic contexts could lead to a greater sense of belonging and support for the regime, but exposure to ineffective or violent state agents could have a toxic effect on such notions of citizenship. Studies investigating the relationship between institutions of the state and democratic attitudes are often conducted at the national or cross-national level, losing much local-level within-municipality variation. To address this issue and contribute to both the state building and democratization agenda, this article zooms in to a within-city analysis of individual attitudes and the uneven distribution of state resources in the city of São Paulo. This focus on a single urban center allows for a fine-grained analysis at the level of the individual, capturing the impact of inequalities in the distribution of state resources. The empirical strategy leverages the geocoded respondent domiciles from a representative survey of adults conducted in the municipality of São Paulo to place respondents in their lived contexts. To measure local public service environments, the paper develops an original index of state presence constructed using the spatial distribution of state healthcare facilities, military police stations, public schools. The index is built to vary within neighborhoods, allowing for precise analysis. The findings suggest that the distribution of state resources within urban areas and the violent actions of state agents are important in determining individual support for democracy and rule of law. Independent of individual-level characteristics, respondents with easier access to state offices are more supportive of democracy and the rule of law. However, considering the distribution of police violence is also important, as greater exposure to police violence counteracts the positive impact of state access. The findings suggest that to achieve deep and long-lasting success, democratization processes should focus significantly on the local level, bringing state resources closer to citizens and tempering the violent nature of certain agents of state power.

Author

• Jacob Turner, University of Notre Dame