O ECLIPSE DO CRISTIANISMO PROFÉTICO A UTOPIA CRISTÃ DE DOM HELDER CAMARA À LUZ DA SOCIOLOGIA DE HENRI DESROCHE

Este estudo tem a intenção de apresentar o cristianismo profético que caracterizou parte do catolicismo brasileiro nas décadas de 1950 a 1970 e que nas décadas seguintes sofreu a ofensiva dos poderes governamentais, ditatoriais e eclesiásticos que ocasionaram seu eclipse no cenário religioso e social do país. Uma pesquisa bibliográfica sobre a situação histórica e social e sobre os referenciais teóricos da sociologia da esperança de Henri Desroche e dos tipos ideais (profeta, sacerdote e mago) de Max Weber, cujo antagonismo foi aprofundado por Pierre Bourdieu, orientou a análise deste processo de ocultamento. A hipótese central é a de que o Eclipse do Cristianismo Profético segue a dinâmica dos movimentos marginais e utópicos que pululam na história da humanidade e que foram elencados e analisados pela sociologia da religião de Henri Desroche, especialmente na parte dedicada aos homens da espera. O estudo de caso sobre o itinerário eclesial e humanitário de dom Helder Camara iluminará, de modo existencial, o percurso do eclipse deste cristianismo social.

Por uma sociologia da produção e reprodução musical do presbiterianismo brasileiro: a tendência gospel e sua influência no culto

O culto presbiteriano brasileiro se cristalizou de forma peculiar em relação ao seu estilo litúrgico. A exclusão de elementos mais ritualísticos somados ás condições de inserção deram um contorno bem específico a esse culto no Brasil. A sua forma pode ser reduzida a dois pilares de sustentação: a prédica e a música. A música também se desenvolveu de um modo peculiar dentro da denominação. Porém, desde início dos anos 90 essa musica tradicional tem sido abalada com a consolidação do mercado de música gospel. Surgiu então no Brasil um novo tipo de produção musical, relacionada com o louvor congregacional, que pelo aspecto emocional e performático, contraria a produção tradicional. Esse novo modelo de louvor, fomentado pela mídia especializada, pelo mercado gospel e em acordo com as tendências culturais atuais, tem plena aceitação do público jovem e dos novos conversos, dificultando a manutenção da tradição. Muitos são os motivos para tal fato, entre eles a atração que o mercado exerce sobre o jovem presbiteriano e o papel litúrgico da música nesse culto, que sempre gerou um grande clima de insatisfação religiosa de alguns sub grupos do laicato. Assim, a produção e reprodução musical do culto presbiteriano têm sofrido modificações que podem contribuir diretamente para uma das maiores mutações cúlticas que o presbiterianismo já sofreu desde a sua inserção entre nós. Esse novo modelo de louvor propiciou uma ruptura com a hinódia tradicional, que há muito já estava se enfraquecendo. Esta tese discute as mudanças ocorridas na produção e reprodução da música litúrgica do presbiterianismo e a sua conseqüência direta no perfil desse culto, bem como os motivos que sustentam tais mudanças, tanto em uma perspectiva micro como macro social.(AU)

The extent of the population paradox in the Hungarian electoral system

The Hungarian mixed-member electoral system, adopted in 1989, is one of the world’s most complicated electoral systems, and, as this paper demonstrates, it suffers from the "population paradox". In particular, the governing coalition may lose as many as 8 seats either by getting more votes or by the opposition obtaining fewer votes on each territorial list.

The unintended [or intended?] political consequences of electoral systems: The case of Bolivia

The present study was concerned with evaluating one basic institution in Bolivian democracy: its electoral system. The study evaluates the impact of electoral systems on the interaction between presidents and assemblies. It sought to determine whether it is possible to have electoral systems that favor multipartism but can also moderate the likelihood of executive-legislative confrontation by producing the necessary conditions for coalition building. ^ This dissertation utilized the case study method as a methodology. Using the case of Bolivia, the research project studied the variations in executive-legislative relations and political outcomes from 1985 to the present through a model of executive-legislative relations that provided a typology of presidents and assemblies based on the strategies available to them to bargain with each other for support. A complementary model that evaluated the state of their inter-institutional interaction was also employed. ^ Results indicated that executive-legislative relations are profoundly influenced by the choice of the electoral system. Similarly, the project showed that although the Bolivian mixed system for legislative elections, and executive formula favor multipartism, these electoral systems do not necessarily engender executive-legislative confrontation in Bolivia. This was mainly due to the congressional election of the president, and the formulas utilized to translate the popular vote into legislative seats. However, the study found that the electoral system has also allowed for anti-systemic forces to emerge and gain political space both within and outside of political institutions. ^ The study found that government coalitions in Bolivia that are promoted by the system of congressional election of the president and the D'Hondt system to allocate legislative seats have helped ameliorate one of the typical problems of presidential systems in Latin America: the presence of a minority government that is blocked in its capacity to govern. This study was limited to evaluating the impact of the electoral system, as the independent variable, on executive-legislative interaction. However, the project revealed a need for more theoretical and empirical work on executive-legislative bargaining models in order to understand how institutional reforms can have an impact on the incentives of presidents and legislators to form coherent coalitions. ^

The electoral geography of the Slovak Republic: A comparison of the 1994, 1998, and 2002 parliamentary elections

In what can rightly be said to be one of the most dramatic geopolitical shifts in modern times, the collapse of communist regimes in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union brought about dramatic changes in the entire region. As a consequence, wide ranging political, economic, and social transformations have occurred in almost all of these countries since 1989. The Slovak Republic, as a newly democratic country, went through the establishment of the electoral and party systems that are the central mechanisms to the formation of almost all modern democratic governments. The primary research purpose of this dissertation was to describe and explain regional variations in party support during Slovakia’s ten years of democratic transformation. A secondary purpose was to relate these spatial variations to the evolution of political parties in the post-independence period in light of the literature on transitional electoral systems. Research questions were analyzed using both aggregate and survey data. Specifically, the study utilized electoral data from 1994, 1998, and 2002 Slovak parliamentary elections and socio-economic data of the population within Slovak regions which were eventually correlated with the voting results by party in the 79 Slovak districts. The results of this study demonstrate that there is a tendency among voters in certain regions to provide continuous support to the same political parties/movements over time. In addition, the socio-economic characteristics of the Slovak population (gender, age, education, religion, nationality, unemployment, work force distribution, wages, urban-rural variable, and population density) in different regions tend to influence voting preferences in the parliamentary elections. Finally, there is an evident correlation between party preference and the party’s position on integration into European Union, as measured by perceived attitudes regarding the benefits of EU membership.

Determinants and effects of electoral party coalitions: The case of Brazil

Since the 1985 return to democracy, Brazilian politicians have resorted to vote-pooling arrangements to elect representatives. A puzzle thus presents itself: What drives parties to join these electoral cartels? The dissertation unraveled the incentives party elites have to participate in coalitions under a presidencialist system of government. I also investigated the effect of electoral coalitions on congressional representation. I applied a model of binary outcomes and relied on standard deviations to assess the ideological homogeneity/heterogeneity of electoral coalitions. I also calculated the Index of Disproportionality to measure the gaps between the proportion of votes and seats received by all parties in Brazil with and without electoral coalitions. Finally, I assessed the effects of the electoral formula on proportionality. An unexpected exogenous factor resulted crucial in explaining proportional electoral coalition building: The district's majoritarian election for governor. In each district, political actors often synchronize coalition partners to maximize winning results while minimizing electoral efforts.

Electoral rules and elite recruitment: A comparative analysis of the Bundestag and the U.S. House of Representatives

In this research, I analyze the effects of candidate nomination rules and campaign financing rules on elite recruitment into the national legislatures of Germany and the United States. This dissertation is both theory-driven and constitutes exploratory research, too. While the effects of electoral rules are frequently studied in political science, the emphasis is thereby on electoral rules that are set post-election. My focus, in contrast, is on electoral rules that have an effect prior to the election. Furthermore, my dissertation is comparative by design.^ The research question is twofold. Do electoral rules have an effect on elite recruitment, and does it matter? To answer these question, I create a large-N original data set, in which I code the behavior and recruitment paths and patterns of members of the American House of Representatives and the German Bundestag. Furthermore, I include interviews with members of the said two national legislatures. Both the statistical analyses and the interviews provide affirmative evidence for my working hypothesis that differences in electoral rules lead to a different type of elite recruitment. To that end, I use the active-politician concept, through which I dichotomously distinguish the economic behavior of politicians.^ Thanks to the exploratory nature of my research, I also discover the phenomenon of differential valence of local and state political office for entrance into national office in comparative perspective. By statistically identifying this hitherto unknown paradox, as well as evidencing the effects of electoral rules, I show that besides ideology and culture, institutional rules are key in shaping the ruling elite. The way institutional rules are set up, in particular electoral rules, does not only affect how the electorate will vote and how seats will be distributed, but it will also affect what type of people will end up in elected office.^

Ballots for Equality: An Approach to the Radical Tradition in U.S. Electoral Politics

Posing radical challenges to structural inequality is the defining quality of the Left. What role electoral politics might play in such processes is a dilemma of radical politics, the contours of which vary by historical and national contexts. For the U.S. Left there is a distinctive aspect of the dilemma directly related to the failure of a "Left" party of even the most moderate social democratic type to take root, creating a seemingly never ending debate over the value if any of "third party" progressive organizing. This debate is current, as illustrated by three divergent approaches; independent left electoral politics (Socialist Alternative), organizing within the less conservative of the dominant parties (Progressive Democrats of America), and a social movement focus outside the electoral process (Occupy Movement). The present day examples of alternative Left strategies noted here in passing are but three of many such specific organizational options for progressive politics. This article does not seek to advocate for any one of these options to the exclusion of the others but rather seeks to provide historical perspective.

The Electoral Geography of the Slovak Republic: A Comparison of the 1994, 1998, and 2002 Parliamentary Elections

In what can rightly be said to be one of the most dramatic geopolitical shifts in modern times, the collapse of communist regimes in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union brought about dramatic changes in the entire region. As a consequence, wide ranging political, economic, and social transformations have occurred in almost all of these countries since 1989. The Slovak Republic, as a newly democratic country, went through the establishment of the electoral and party systems that are the central mechanisms to the formation of almost all modern democratic governments. The primary research purpose of this dissertation was to describe and explain regional variations in party support during Slovakia’s ten years of democratic transformation. A secondary purpose was to relate these spatial variations to the evolution of political parties in the post-independence period in light of the literature on transitional electoral systems. Research questions were analyzed using both aggregate and survey data. Specifically, the study utilized electoral data from 1994, 1998, and 2002 Slovak parliamentary elections and socio-economic data of the population within Slovak regions which were eventually correlated with the voting results by party in the 79 Slovak districts. The results of this study demonstrate that there is a tendency among voters in certain regions to provide continuous support to the same political parties/movements over time. In addition, the socio-economic characteristics of the Slovak population (gender, age, education, religion, nationality, unemployment, work force distribution, wages, urban-rural variable, and population density) in different regions tend to influence voting preferences in the parliamentary elections. Finally, there is an evident correlation between party preference and the party’s position on integration into European Union, as measured by perceived attitudes regarding the benefits of EU membership.

Representações sociais da identidade docente na formação inicial de professores de sociologia da UFRN

La presencia hodierna de la Sociología en la educación básica brasileña es un elemento nuevo para los sujetos que a ella están relacionados y, para el grupo investigado en este estudio, los licenciandos y licenciandas del curso de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), la situación no es diferente. Con el intuito de comprender cómo los saberes aprehendidos durante la formación inicial de profesores influencian el proceso de construcción de la identidad, se investigó las representaciones sociales que eses sujetos construyen cerca de la identidad docente, intentando comprender cómo estos representan las profesoras y profesores de Sociología. Por lo tanto, se hizo una comparación entre los elementos que compusieron los núcleos centrales de las representaciones sociales de los licenciados ingresantes y de los licenciandos en práctica del referido curso, además de un examen del plan de estudios de esa licenciatura. Se adoptó la Teoría de las Representaciones Sociales y el Abordaje Estructural como aporte teórico y de la Técnica de Asociación Libre de Palabras como recurso metodológico. Al llevar a cabo el análisis de los datos obtenidos durante la investigación, se hizo evidente que la memoria, mientras un conjunto de experiencias del sujeto, desarrolla un papel esencial en los procesos de construcción representacional e identificación, pues la familiaridad con la asignatura de Sociología en la Enseñanza Mediana trajo nuevos e importantes elementos para la composición del perfil de los actuales ingresantes en la licenciatura investigada. De este modo, al asociar representaciones sociales, identidades y formación de profesores en la tríade conceptual que condice esa investigación y teniendo as experiencias anteriores de los sujetos como un enlace, el objetivo fue demostrar cómo eses elementos componen partes de procesos sociales análogos e indisociables. Sin la acumulación de experiencias memoriales no hay representación, mucho menos identidad. Por el contrario, los datos muestran que las discusiones, erigidas por la reciente obligatoriedad de la Sociología en la Enseñanza Mediana, no encuentran eco en el cotidiano formativo de los licenciados permaneciendo alejado del currículo de la licenciatura en Ciencias Sociales de UFRN. Esa coyuntura se refleja en construcciones representacionales tanto de los licenciados ingresantes como de los estudiantes en práctica, asociados a una noción intervencionista de la asignatura de Sociología. Esta noción se convierte nebulosa una definición clara de la representación de la identidad docente de profesora y de profesor de Sociología para los licenciandos en formación. La intensa relación de esta representación con la asignatura y no con el hacer pedagógico, con la presencia intervencionista de una probable transformación y no con la compresión de las problemáticas y juegos sociales demuestran que la identidad docente del profesor de Sociología todavía es un objeto que está siendo basado por eses sujetos, que está siendo ajustado a partir de otras representaciones existentes y que la formación inicial de profesores necesita estar atenta a esas representaciones y adecuarse más apropiadamente a la realidad de enseñanza de Sociología que subvierte a docencia de esta asignatura en Rio Grande do Norte.

O comportamento eleitoral da nova classe trabalhadora no Rio Grande do Norte 2014: ideologia, avaliação de governo e voto

This thesis investigates the voting behavior of the fractions of the new working class in Rio Grande do Norte, more specifically in the cities of Natal, Mossoró and Caicó, from the presidential election of 2014. This research examined the ideology, the evaluation of government and guidance the vote of a portion of the working classes of RN voters. In Brazil, from 2003, socio-economic change has occurred perceptibly, especially in a part of the working classes who ascended socially and switched to the "C economic class." Thus, there was this period, a significant expansion of this social stratum. The expansion of the "class C" in the past decade in Brazil raised the academic debate and in the media about the emergence of a "new middle class". Neri (2008) termed the "class C" of the "new middle class" and that will be the central part of their studies. But the debate on the "new middle class" can not be simplistic to the point of considering that social mobility, the main variable income, entered this segment of the population in the middle class, because it has different specificities of the popular classes. To understand this phenomenon, the income variable was outdated, adding the importance of ownership of the means of production, control of labor power and the symbolic values in the division of social classes resulting in three fractions of the new working class: the management positions, non-heads and small fighters. In this study, using as a complement to the sociological approach (ideologies and social classes) and the performance evaluation was identified that the new working class (heads) mainly reproduced the ideological and political positioning of the middle class, resulting in the rejection of PT governments (2003-2014) and it’s social, compensatory and redistributive policies. From what has been seen, the new working class (chiefs) approaches the ideological and political behavior of the middle class that will reflect in their electoral choices and class interests. The new working class (not heads and small fighters who voted in the situation) because of its classist and ideological interests approached the Workers' Party positively evaluating the Lula-Dilma governments (2003-2014) due to the implementation of compensatory policies, and redistributive programs government turned to the popular classes. In a counterpoint, the voters of the new working class (not heads and small fighters) who voted null, reproduced the discourse of mainstream media and the middle class about the rejection of compensatory policies, redistribution and government programs of Lula-Dilma governments, and consequently they disapproved of the government Dilma and her candidacy.

Del 15M al cambio del mapa electoral

Desde la entrada en la escena política española de Podemos en las elecciones al Parlamento Europeo de mayo de 2014 y la reaparición de Ciudadanos en enero de 2015, se ha escrito mucho sobre las posibilidades de superar el bipartidismo en la representación parlamentaria en España.

Religious differences in electoral turnout among women in Northern Ireland

Peer reviewed