The stigma of illiterate and brazilian democracy: the ineligibility of the “excluded from within”

Abstract

The present study analyzes the Rousseaunian assumptions that advocate democracy participated, in view of the impossibility of eligibility of non-literate Brazilians under the aegis of the concept “excluded from within” proposed by Pierre Bourdieu and Champagne from the democratic perspective. The exercise of citizenship is not restricted to suffrage. At the heart of the Democratic Rule of Law is the representativeness of the plurality of individuals that make up society. The imposition of limits on political participation, as a fundamental right, whether in active or passive electoral capacity, is a paradox of the permanent process of democratization. Non-literacy per se is macrosystemic failure. This study is based on the epistemology of quanti-qualitative, analytical-critical research, developed from the use of multimethods to examine the praxis of representative democracy with interdisciplinary lenses. The data provided by the website of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) are analyzed, as well as the political, legal and anthropological concepts present in the current literature and the legislation related to the theme, aiming to answer: to what extent the pseudo- inclusion of non-literate people in the Brazilian electoral system made them “excluded from within” in the face of participatory democracy? At this juncture, the objective is to analyze the compatibility of the principles of equality and popular sovereignty in the face of the ineligibility of non-literate people with a fulcrum in the systematization of essential democratic elements. It is concluded that to break the stigmatization of illiterates in the democratic system is necessary, their insertion and educational incentive is necessary.