How do Brazilians perceive the role of the state, the market, and civil society in the execution of social policies?

During the last two decades, the patterns of interaction between states, markets and civil society have changed greatly. Activities that were formerly exclusive responsibility of the state, as the definition and execution of social policies, are currently being partnered with civil society organizations (CSOs) and private firms. Although the existing literature has already explored some of the consequences of this new societal arrangement, including some objective measures related to efficiency and policy impacts, it is still not clear how the populations affected by these new policies react to these changes. This measure is extremely relevant since the way individuals perceive policies’ results is related to their conceptions of democracy and of how social justice is to be achieved.

Our work intends to analyze how Brazilians perceive the role of the state, the market and CSOs in the implementation of public services. Particularly, we investigate how different groups in the population differentiate the quality, reach and responsibility of these actors in activities such as health, education, reduction of inequality, protection of the environment and others.

Our analysis is based on a national-wide survey conducted in 2008 and is part of a greater research about the changes in the role of the state, market and CSOs in the reduction of inequality, conducted at the Center for Studies of Inequality (Nied-UFRJ) coordinated by Professor Elisa P. Reis (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro). Using data from this survey, the preliminary conclusion of our investigation is that although the market and CSOs are recognized as relevant players in the execution of social policies and it is perceived that they can offer better services, the state is still perceived as the main responsible and apt actor to perform these activities.