Paper short abstract:

We continue an analysis of semi-structured ethnographic interviews with Brazilians during 2020, begun as the COVID-19 pandemic hit Brazil, taking some initial steps towards examining the concept of corrupção (corruption) from a cultural models perspective, especially that espoused by Strauss (2012).

Paper long abstract:

Corruption in government should be a concern for those interested in the future of democracy and in a reduction of social inequality around the world. Political corruption has been a prominent theme in Brazilian political culture, and its importance as a problem and its prominence in political culture has been perduring, frequently as an attribute of political adversaries. The current far-right administration came to office with anti-corruption as an important theme of its platform, and it is high on the list of social problems which Brazilians can enumerate. It is especially prominent in right-wing discourse. In this paper, we continue an analysis of semi-structured ethnographic interviews with 97 Brazilians during 2020, interviews conducted as research contracted for a private public opinion research firm in support of an anti-corruption campaign. The field research began as the COVID-19 pandemic hit Brazil, with a corruption scandal emerging in the responses to the pandemic, and in a climate of extreme political polarization. Here, we take some initial steps towards examining the interview data from a cultural models perspective, especially that espoused by Strauss (2012). We consider explicit and tacit meanings of corrupção (corruption) and related metaphors. Initial hypotheses include the observation that corrupção is used as an “umbrella” term for much of what is undesirable about government and civic conduct, and that corruption is often understood by Brazilians themselves as an element of Brazilian national culture or national character.