Redistribution and Polarization in Latin America

• Grant number: 25/12062-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: January 29, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Political Behavior
• Principal Investigator: Marta Teresa da Silva Arretche
• Grantee: Pedro Mendes Rufino Barbosa
• Supervisor: Kenneth Roberts
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Cornell University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/12567-4 - Economic redistribution and severe polarisation: a comparative analysis of Latin America (1990-2019), BP.PD

Abstract

This research explores the relationship between redistribution and affectivepolarization in Latin America, building on theories of social resentment. Whilethe existing literature often attributes polarization in affluent democracies torising economic inequality, in Brazil social resentment intensified following aperiod of declining inequality. The social sectors driving this resentment alsodiffer between these contexts. I argue that the dynamic of social resentmentis conditional to the underlying social structures. (AU)