The effects of the democratization of higher education on the political behavior of Brazilians

• In Event: Subnational Politics and Public Policies

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the effect of the democratization of higher education on the political behavior of Brazilians. It starts from the assumption that schooling is able to arouse the interest, participation and policy coherence citizens. In this sense, we seek to verify that Brazilian citizens are informed and interested in politics; motivated to participate in elections and other political activities; and coherent in their assessment and satisfaction with democracy. In particular, the behavior stands out from those who have completed higher education in order to identify distinct behavioral patterns. From the data obtained by ESEB (Brazilian Electoral Study) in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 - a period of Lula and Dilma governments, marked by expanding access to higher education – we relate education to other variables grouped into four categories: socioeconomic aspects (age, income, gender and region of the country), information and interest in politics; participation in elections, in traditional political activities and other political activities; and evaluation and political satisfaction. It is a study that relates the thematics political behavior, civic engagement, social capital, and higher education. The central hypothesis is that, unlike the effect that education brings about citizenship in advanced democracies, in Brazil, higher education has no influence on the civic and political engagement, and therefore there is no correlation between higher education and the behavior of more interested, participative and coherent citizens on their opinions and political choices in Brazil.

Authors

• André Luiz V Dias

• Maria Teresa Miceli K Kerbauy, Universidade Estadual de São Paulo/Araraquara