ABSTRACT

In scholarship on informal politics in Brazil, clientelism is a well-studied phenomenon. While studies of clientelism generally concentrate on elections, campaigning and vote buying, clientelist practices and their impact extend well beyond this temporal and thematic focus. This article develops an approach that builds on theories of brokerage in anthropology and social network studies. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in low-income neighbourhoods in Recife, Brazil, it shows how clientelism is based on informal exchanges both within and outside election periods. Through a study of community leaders, their projects and their search for resources, the article advances a more comprehensive understanding of how clientelism works as a social mechanism in the ordering of life in these neighbourhoods.

摘要

在巴西的非正式政治学术研究中，依附主义是一个经过充分研究的现象。虽然对依附主义的研究通常集中在选举、竞选和选票上，但依附主义实践及其影响远远超出了这一时间和主题焦点。本文开发了一种基于人类学和社会网络研究中的经纪理论的方法。基于在巴西累西腓低收入社区的长期民族志实地调查，它显示了依附主义是如何建立在选举期间内外的非正式交流的基础上的。通过对社区领袖、他们的项目和他们对资源的搜索的研究，本文推进了对依附主义如何作为一种社会机制在这些社区的生活秩序中发挥作用的更全面的理解。