The Political Psychology of Social Classes in Brazil: Attributes of Political Attitudes by Stratification and Social Mobility

ABSTRACT

This article tests different hypothesis derived from the national and international specialized literature regarding the effect of stratification and social mobility in political attitudes and its attributes in Brazil. Data from the Barometer of the Americas (2012 round) was employed. The Barometer is a household survey with a representative sample of the Brazilian population. By articulating the literature on social classes with political psychology, the article interweaves two theoretical strands that rarely communicate to specify the potential behavior differentiation according to social classes and social mobility. Thus we focus on the substantial content of distinct classes, as we also explore the distinctions of the attributes of attitudes such as non-opinion, extremism and heterogeneity. The findings indicate a certain exaggeration of the current Brazilian literature in differentiating the middle class from the others.

social class; social mobility; political attitudes; political psychology; tolerance