Facing bureaucratic uncertainty in the Bolsa Família Program: Clientelism beyond reciprocity and economic rationality

F.H. Eiró de Oliveira

doi:10.3167/fcl.2019.850108

Facing bureaucratic uncertainty in the Bolsa Família Program: Clientelism beyond reciprocity and economic rationality

F.H. Eiró de Oliveira

Social and Cultural Anthropology

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Clientelism is often analyzed along lines of moral values and reciprocity or an economic rationality. This article, instead, moves beyond this dichotomy and shows how both frameworks coexist and become entwined. Based on ethnographic research in a city in the Brazilian Northeast, it analyzes how the anti-poverty Bolsa Família Program and its bureaucracy are entangled with electoral politics and clientelism. We show how the program’s beneficiaries engage in clientelist relationships and exchanges to deal with structural precariousness and bureaucratic uncertainty. Contributing to understanding the complexity of clientelism, our analysis demonstrates how they, in their assessment of and dealing with political candidates, employ the frames of reference of both reciprocity and economic rationality in such a way that they act as a “counterpoint” to each other.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	84-96
Journal	Focaal
Volume	2019
Issue number	85
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3167/fcl.2019.850108
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2019

Funding

This project received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 679614). Flávio Eiró acknowledges the support of the CAPES Foundation, Brazilian Education Ministry (PhD scholarship process no. 99999.001728/2013-00) and thanks Serge Paugam, Marcel Bursztyn, Laurent Henry, and Carolina Milhorance for their valuable comments on former versions of this article. Flávio Eiró is Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at Radboud University. He holds a PhD (2017) in Sociology from the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). He is a researcher in the project “Participatory Urban Governance between Democracy and Clientelism: Brokers and (In)formal Politics,” funded by a European Research Council starting grant, analyzing informal politics and participation in four cities: Manchester, Medellín, Recife, and Rotterdam. His research interests include clientelism, informal politics, citizenship, social assistance, and poverty. His research focus has mainly been on Brazil. Email: [email protected] Martijn Koster is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at Radboud University. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator of the research project “Participatory Urban Governance between Democracy and Clientelism: Brokers and (In)formal Politics,” funded by a European Research Council starting grant. He has conducted ethnographic research in Brazil and the Netherlands. His research combines urban anthropology, political anthropology and critical urban studies. His research interests include participatory urban governance, political brokerage, citizenship, informal politics, and urban development. Email: [email protected]

Funders	Funder number
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme	679614
European Research Council
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior	99999.001728/2013-00

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Facing bureaucratic uncertainty in the Bolsa Família Program: Clientelism beyond reciprocity and economic rationality

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