A elite parlamentar brasileira de 1995 a 2010: até que ponto vai a popularização da classe política?

Abstract

The objective of this article is to discuss the theory of popularization of the social profile of Brazilian parliamentarians, emphasizing that the literature on the subject, by ignoring the asymmetric relations of institutional power among legislators, may be biased in its diagnosis of the characteristics of political representation in Brazil. Based on an analysis of the temporal distribution of educational, occupational and gender profiles of deputies and senators between 1995 and 2010, it concludes that popularization occurs at different levels in the profiles of individual parliamentarians, parliamentary groups and legislative bodies. Furthermore, it suggests that in some situations it would be more appropriate to qualify these processes as a diversification of the social profile of legislators, rather than a popularization as such.

Keywords

• Brazil (Thesaurus)
• political elites
• popularization
• political recruitment
• deputies