Teoria & Pesquisa: Revista de Ciência Política, São Carlos, v. 34, n. 00, e025003, 2025. e-ISSN: 2236-0107
DOI: 10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075 1
A Q STUDY OF THE BRAZILIAN POLITICAL ANSWERS TO THE QUESTION
“WORLD CUP FOR WHOM?”: WHAT WOULD COME NEXT?
UM ESTUDO Q DAS RESPOSTAS POLÍTICAS BRASILEIRAS À PERGUNTA “COPA
DO MUNDO PARA QUEM?”: O QUE VIRIA A SEGUIR?
UN ESTUDIO Q DE LAS RESPUESTAS POLÍTICAS BRASILEÑAS A LA PREGUNTA
“¿MUNDIAL PARA QUIÉN?”: ¿QUÉ VENDRÍA DESPUÉS?
Gustavo SAID1
e-mail: gsaid@uol.com.br
Michael STRICKLIN2
e-mail: mstrick44@yahoo.com
How to reference this paper:
SAID, G.; STRICKLIN, M. A Q study of the Brazilian political
answers to the question “world cup for whom?”: what would come
next?. Teoria & Pesquisa: Revista de Ciência Política, São
Carlos, v. 34, n. 00, e025003, 2025. e-ISSN: 2236-0107. DOI:
10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075
| Submitted: 29/09/2023
| Revisions required: 25/09/2024
| Approved: 09/06/2025
| Published: 14/08/2025
Editor: Prof. Dra. Simone Diniz
Deputy Executive Editor: Prof. Dr. José Anderson Santos Cruz
1 Full Professor in the Undergraduate and Master’s Programs at the Federal University of Piauí, and Deputy
Coordinator of the Master’s Program in Media Processes.
2 Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of California and a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the
University of Iowa.
A Q study of the Brazilian political answers to the question “world cup for whom?”: what would come next?
Teoria & Pesquisa: Revista de Ciência Política, São Carlos, v. 34, n. 00, e025003, 2025. e-ISSN: 2236-0107
DOI: 10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075 2
ABSTRACT: Internal conflicts known as “Jornadas de Junho” spread through the streets of
Brazil in June 2013. At that moment, street art in Brazil asked the question: “World Cup for
whom?” The three narratives of what the 2014 Football World Cup meant to Brazilians are
fraught with conflict, as will be illustrated in this Q study, which draws on diverse theoretical
perspectives and explores both qualitative and quantitative approaches. This Q Study was
developed with 30 Brazilian residents with a questionnaire of images about these conflicts and
protests, and also about the 2014 FIFA World Cup. A sample of 35 photos, cartoons, and
collages was gathered to represent this concourse. As a result, the stories speak of conflicting
emotions, dualities, and even anxiety, revealing a deep sense of social division and political
dualities that lingered in the 2018 and 2022 presidential elections.
KEYWORDS: Q methodology. Subjectivity. Brazilian political context.
RESUMO: Conflitos internos conhecidos como as “Jornadas de Junho” se espalharam pelas
ruas do Brasil em junho de 2013. Naquele momento, a arte de rua no Brasil questionava:
“Copa do Mundo para quem?” As três narrativas sobre o significado da Copa do Mundo de
Futebol de 2014 para os brasileiros estão carregadas de conflito, como será ilustrado neste
estudo Q, que se baseia em diversas perspectivas teóricas e explora abordagens qualitativas e
quantitativas. O estudo Q foi desenvolvido com 30 moradores brasileiros por meio de um
concourse de imagens referentes a esses conflitos, protestos e também à Copa da FIFA 2014.
Uma amostra de 35 fotos, cartoons e colagens foi reunida para representar esse concourse.
Como resultado, as histórias expressam emoções conflitantes, dualidades e até ansiedade,
revelando um profundo sentimento de divisão social e polarizações políticas que
permaneceram nas eleições presidenciais de 2018 e 2022.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Metodologia Q. Subjetividade. Contexto político brasileiro.
RESUMEN: Los conflictos internos conocidos como “Jornadas de Junho” se extendieron por
las calles de Brasil en junio de 2013. En ese momento, el arte callejero en Brasil planteaba la
pregunta: “¿Copa del Mundo para quién?” Las tres narrativas de lo que significó la Copa
Mundial de Fútbol de 2014 para los brasileños están plagadas de conflictos, como se ilustra
en este estudio de Q, que se basa en diversas perspectivas teóricas y explora enfoques
cualitativos y cuantitativos. El estudio Q se desarrolló con 30 residentes brasileños con un
concurso de imágenes sobre estos conflictos y protestas y también sobre la Copa Mundial de
la FIFA 2014. Se reunió una muestra de 35 fotografías, caricaturas y collages para representar
este concurso. Como resultado, las historias hablan de emociones encontradas, dualidades e
incluso ansiedad, revelando un profundo sentido de división social y dualidades políticas que
se han mantenido en las elecciones presidenciales de 2018 y 2022.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Metodología Q. Subjetividad. Contexto político brasileño.
Gustavo SAID and Michael STRICKLIN
Teoria & Pesquisa: Revista de Ciência Política, São Carlos, v. 34, n. 00, e025003, 2025. e-ISSN: 2236-0107
DOI: 10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075 3
Introduction
A wave of popular demonstrations swept Brazil in June 2013; it went viral in a flurry of
tweets and SMS messages, two long-established techniques of propagation. Brazilian
demonstrators had learned from protests carried out in different countries, such as the 2011
Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States and the Los Indignados movement in Spain,
also in 2011. Carrying on in their wake, Brazilians slaked their own thirst for using the most
modern globe-changing technologies by filling the broadband with a public outcry, mostly
among youth, interconnected via social media technologies. Their target: to drive public
policies closer to their demands, both symbolic and material. Symptomatically, the protests
underscored a huge gap between government policies and popular interests, while at the same
time denouncing the corrupt closeness between political groups and private businesses. Based
on a Q Study (see the next section for a detailed explanation), this paper tries to demonstrate
that the protests in 2013 highlighted the embryo of political disputes that, in some sense, would
take over the national debate and the changes in the Brazilian political context that, years later,
in the 2018 and 2022 presidential elections, would express a deep sense of social division and
political dualities.
Despite similarities to global events, the protests in the streets of Brazil in 2013, also
known as the Jornadas de Junho (the Journeys of June), had unique features: a national color
and rhythm, an identity of Brazilian-ness distinguishable in social networks and in the streets,
and a new expression of political behavior. The various protests around the country initially
arose to challenge increases in public transport fares and, within weeks, reached a climax during
the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup games. Streets in more than one hundred cities and towns
were filled—at first filled mostly with youths, middle-class families, and professionals, but
soon these were joined by riot police, journalists, and opportunists of every stripe. The
subsequent clashes led predictably to violence. But if one looks back, the events of 2013 can be
understood as a symptom of a political and social division that was already underway and that
would manifest itself more clearly in the years to come.
Moreover, having won widespread popular support, the protesters turned their efforts to
sharp criticism of the conduct of the soccer World Cup in Brazil in 2014. That was how
thousands of young people, who felt excluded from public policymaking, took to the streets of
the country to protest the expenditures for the FIFA World Cup. The intention was clear: youths
deprived of basic services in education, health, security, and public transport did not see any
sense in the investment of billions of dollars to host an international event. When questioning
A Q study of the Brazilian political answers to the question “world cup for whom?”: what would come next?
Teoria & Pesquisa: Revista de Ciência Política, São Carlos, v. 34, n. 00, e025003, 2025. e-ISSN: 2236-0107
DOI: 10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075 4
the need to hold the most important soccer championship on the planet, wouldn’t it be right to
ask whether the protesters were also questioning the idea that soccer is one of the pillars of
Brazilian cultural identity?
Furthermore, problems related to corruption and questionable partnerships between
public authorities and the private sphere had become targets of criticism and were soon adopted
by right-wing parties and political groups that opposed Dilma Rousseff’s leftist government.
(The assumption of a “crusade” against corruption was the basis of the political platform of the
Brazilian extreme right that, in part, led to the election of President Jair Bolsonaro in 2018).
Not surprisingly, therefore, the counterattack by the government and the private sector—the
direct beneficiaries of the expenditures—came in the form of patriotic advertising and public
information campaigns in mass media, trying to erase the social and political contradictions that
hosting the FIFA World Cup had put into the spotlight. Comparing social media with mass
media, we can see that photographs and videos from the protests evidence a surprising social
and cultural plurality going into action, democratic action, forming in real time. The clear and
spontaneous emotion on people’s faces was, for the most part, not recorded by journalists from
traditional media. Not by coincidence, social media, in fact, would be the strategic tool most
used by candidates, political parties, and voters in the subsequent elections of 2018 and 2022.
In a hodgepodge of colors, shapes, and aesthetics—a kaleidoscope of intentions and
popular demands—the protests in 2013 and 2014 gave visibility to groups from multiple and
diverse social segments. Having come together with energy, strength, and symbolic power into
a collective rebellion, they wanted to show a corrupt political and partisan management model.
Undoubtedly, they sought reform. At the time, some hasty analyses in the press claimed that the
protesters had no specific political intentions, but the pundits did not look beyond the literal
content of the messages expressed on the protesters’ posters and banners. Deeper analysis
reveals that, in their form and dynamics, the demonstrations can be seen collectively as a
symptom of social problems in the Brazilian public scenario. They expressed new forms of
political subjectivity that would deepen with the increasing use of social media in the next
national elections, generally expressing a narcissistic behavior that allows one to defend their
decisions based on imaginary issues. This inflection in politics announced the presence of new
youthful protagonists, evidenced in photographs and videos in streets and on networks, doing
politics in a new dynamic, stymying the agents of social control in a new way and thereby
curtailing the power of public institutions. Young people on the streets represented a collective
power able to shake the foundations of the old political logic of maintaining social order. As
Gustavo SAID and Michael STRICKLIN
Teoria & Pesquisa: Revista de Ciência Política, São Carlos, v. 34, n. 00, e025003, 2025. e-ISSN: 2236-0107
DOI: 10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075 5
Gunkel (2014, p. 36) said, “[…] in defacing or destroying both public and private property,
vandals inflict symbolic violence on recognizable images of social power.” From then on, right-
wing groups would appropriate the discourse that preached the discrediting of public
institutions to justify anti-democratic and authoritarian acts. This attitude of disdain for symbols
of social and institutional power would intensify as political agendas based on controversial
themes drove some protesters’ actions years later, as seen in the political events of the 2018 and
2022 elections and, above all, in the scenes of invasion and depredation of public buildings in
the Federal Capitol on January 8, 2023.
This is the era of social networks. If protest in the public space, consisting of both virtual
social networks and action in the streets, did not express the end of indirect representative
democracy, it at least gave impetus to the debate and led to the emergence of new forms of
popular regimentation and construction of participatory citizenship. What would come next in
the Brazilian political context?
At that time, improvised placards proclaiming, “The Giant Awoke!” were held high
above smiling faces. Because of their broad symbolic spectrum, these great collective protests
spurred a release of emotions, a generalized physical-emotional arousal reflecting a new social
game, namely, a way of public engagement and political activism with roots in playful and
ritualistic events (Stephenson, 1967).
In a hybrid aesthetic, of truly creative protest and political methods, they laid claim to
new public spaces, such as virtual social networks. These new entities violated traditional public
spaces such as streets, squares, and avenues, and hence violated the privileges once identified
with those who controlled them. It seems that the protests reflected a kind of iconoclasm, an
acting out against images, symbols, and representations (Gunkel, 2014). In fact, one’s own body
could be used as a form of media, of stylization and aestheticization that reflects/embodies the
emotional state of each subject. In short, people on the streets broke with the symbolic order,
with the order of significance, and established a new state of things, an inversion of hierarchies
of values and norms, a transgression of the order very similar to Carnival processes as described
by the Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin (1999). For him, Carnival is a ritual spectacle that
fuses expressions, gestures, and forms into new forms of sensory and symbolic language, as
Soerensen (1982, p. 1, translated by the authors) comments:
The language is profound, practical, and sensitive, as evidenced by the
gathering of people and the physical contact of bodies equipped with senses.
The individual’s feelings show that everyone wants to be part of the collective
A Q study of the Brazilian political answers to the question “world cup for whom?”: what would come next?
Teoria & Pesquisa: Revista de Ciência Política, São Carlos, v. 34, n. 00, e025003, 2025. e-ISSN: 2236-0107
DOI: 10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075 6
and a member of a great popular body. The collective unit is constituted by the
dissolution of individual identities. The individual body discards being
himself, to a certain extent, and joins with the others through costume and
mask—a requirement for all individual bodies to form into a single body.
Despite the alleged individual exchange and abandonment, the people feel
their community unity as a concrete, sensitive, and material body.
In the streets in June 2013, it was possible to see bodies moving as if in a trance, without
fakery or any staging, but in movement spontaneous to the context of the moment. The political
protest had been completely carnivalized, complete with eroticism, fantastic costumes, and
groups marching as if they were in a samba school. At that time, the political identity—in terms
of political options and affiliations—of each of the protesters was still a mystery, even though
public and private demands were at the heart of the protests. All this gave rise to a kind of
fantasy orgiastic delight nourished by the collective movement of bodies in the streets. It
became a dynamic game in which intersubjectivity found expression in explicit contact of
bodies and the virtual exchange of messages, so ludic and poetic, without determinism or
explicit controls. However, the cathartic power of June 2013 would soon be overshadowed by
the use of national symbols as a political party strategy, reaffirming an old institutional rhetoric.
In subsequent years, protests with spontaneous erotic connotations, as visible in the 2013
demonstrations, were replaced by rehearsed choreographies endowed with boastful symbolic
content, as one could see in pro-impeachment acts in 2016, in the 2018 elections, and during
the invasion of the Federal Congress in 2023, when, in a different kind of cathartic appeal,
violence against property and public institutions commanded the protest agenda.
In 2013, there was a person behind every poster, and bodies that intertwined in a
discursive polyphony (to quote Bakhtin once again) that, in the end, reverberated into one
sound. “Few posters for so much trouble. Brazil woke up,” wrote one of the protesters, meaning
that the creative protests had an outsize effect on the nation. The quantity and diversity of
demands came from a wide social spectrum in Brazil, on personal, collective, and societal
levels. Yet, on a national or worldwide level, the effect of such spontaneous protest is not
predictable. Disparate groups and identities communicating and expressing themselves in this
spontaneous, multimedia way result in a synthesis of the spirit of an era, a new phase of civil
society and citizenship at the planetary level, according to Said (2014). However, the different
demands would soon be reduced to a political spectrum, whether conservative or liberal.
As we mentioned, during the protests, the social division into two political groups was
not clear, but it was there, beckoning to different political spectrums. Of course, an explicit
Gustavo SAID and Michael STRICKLIN
Teoria & Pesquisa: Revista de Ciência Política, São Carlos, v. 34, n. 00, e025003, 2025. e-ISSN: 2236-0107
DOI: 10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075 7
response to the protests was not long in coming from the government. If, on one hand,
government campaigns justified the carrying out of the 2014 World Cup, on the other hand,
opposition parties directed the protests against the President and her party: two political forces
were trying to split the voters into two distinct, sectarian, rival, and irreconcilable groups,
supported by the antagonism of opinions, as one could see later during the presidential
impeachment process in 2015 and 2016.
The first response of the government came in the form of increased control of the streets
by the military police to maintain order. This order to restrict public movement took on violent
aspects, in some cases culminating in acts of destruction of public assets. At this point, a second
reply from the government came through a media campaign and tried to discredit and disqualify
the groups involved in the protests, as if the violent acts that had been committed could be
linked broadly and indiscriminately to all participants of the demonstrations against the holding
of the World Cup. It was not long, however, before the media pulled back on any intentions to
stereotype the public movement, since, by doing so, they would go against public opinion and
would be subject to criticism forged in social networks. Finally, in a third response, the federal
government and large company sponsors of the Cup invested heavily in official propaganda and
launched a huge campaign in which they outlined gains and the positive impact of an event the
size of the World Cup. This campaign stressed national symbols and sought to raise the self-
esteem of Brazilians, ultimately appealing to cultural elements that populate the national
imagination. The boosterism evident in the media campaigns led many people to take a stand
in favor of putting on the Cup. But at the same time, this belies the way in which public policies
are usually carried out in Brazil, which somehow seems to demonstrate a contradiction of
opinions and feelings or, at least, a desired investment that divides into two objects that do not
cohere. In short, the boosterism raised the level of cognitive dissonance to new heights. In the
following years, especially during the period of social isolation caused by the COVID-19
pandemic, this cognitive dissonance would reach stratospheric levels of belief in fake news,
conspiracy theories, and hard-to-believe scientific denialism, almost all of which had some
political connotation. Furthermore, the emotional and uncritical adherence to nonsense
discourses and contestable political agendas proposed by populist leaders is another example.
With a Q Study, this paper tries to understand what 30 Brazilian residents thought about
the June protests in 2013. Based upon the question “World Cup for Whom?,” it explores the
intersubjectivity of expression of feelings and opinions in a very complex political and
communicative context. With this study, it is possible to perceive what, even in 2013, was the
A Q study of the Brazilian political answers to the question “world cup for whom?”: what would come next?
Teoria & Pesquisa: Revista de Ciência Política, São Carlos, v. 34, n. 00, e025003, 2025. e-ISSN: 2236-0107
DOI: 10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075 8
gestation of a deep political division that would guide the Brazilian political context in the
subsequent ten years.
The Q Study: Exploring the methodology
In 1935, British physicist and psychologist William Stephenson announced the profound
conjecture that a person’s feelings could be identified and recorded in an interactive process,
and in turn, these feelings could be compared with the feelings of others. Exploiting this insight,
he created a methodology for the scientific study of subjectivity, which mixed qualitative and
quantitative methods. This methodology enables objective analysis of subjective phenomena
by comparing the opinions of respondents with respect to a representative sample of texts.
The Q methodology was created especially for studying human subjectivity as the
affective field composed of feelings, motivations, attitudes, beliefs, and opinions of everyone.
As Said and Goldman (2016) suggest, this method, very often used in political sciences, takes
the actor’s worldview and understanding as central. It involves synthesis, advances subjective
knowledge, and opens the possibility for finding truth-value in subjectivity. Stephenson argues
that subjectivity can be studied in a scientific and rigorous manner, modeled on the postulates
of quantum physics and the mathematics of factor analysis. Factor theory in psychology and
quantum theory in physics parallel each other; that is, the mathematical-statistical foundations
are the same. The main objective of this methodology is to identify “feeling states” within factor
structures that shape individual subjectivity and drive political actions.
The instrument designed to collect and analyze data is a Q sort. It enables analyzing
subjectivity objectively and systematically through single case studies as well as comparing the
viewpoints of different people. The Q method approach establishes relationships between the
points of view, opinions, or impressions of respondents to a sample of items. The items (Q
sample) can be comprised of a group of statements, photographs, images, or the like pertaining
to a particular subject or topic (i.e., a Concourse). The subjects are instructed to sort the items
into categories according to their subjective preference: from positive, neutral, to negative (for
example, the scale can run from +5 to -5). The resulting individual classifications or Q sorts are
correlated and subjected to a factorial analysis. Groupings of views or common impressions,
known as factors, are then interpreted (see Brown, 1980; Goldman, 1990). The organization of
the subjects’ perceptions into fixed categories, in response to a fixed set of stimuli, facilitates
Gustavo SAID and Michael STRICKLIN
Teoria & Pesquisa: Revista de Ciência Política, São Carlos, v. 34, n. 00, e025003, 2025. e-ISSN: 2236-0107
DOI: 10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075 9
communication of subjectivity because the subjects of the study share the same definition and
the same scale to describe a construct.
For the purposes of this paper, questions must be formulated. Perhaps one can proceed
by sampling the symbolic forces of posters and banners displayed in the demonstrations? Or
perhaps by sampling the symbolically content-rich patriotic propaganda and advertising? But,
after all: in this milieu, with what and with whom do Brazilians identify? What are their political
claims? What do they think about the 2014 FIFA Cup? The present Q study takes aim at these
questions in Teresina, Brazil, a state capital in the northeast of the country, where street protests
occurred. Even though the study was conducted in Teresina-PI and, as a result, many
peculiarities of the regional context must be taken into account during the analysis, it can be
said that, in general, the 2013 protests express elements of the national political context that
were being formed in that period and followed some trends that were asserting themselves on
a global level.
The concourse
Now, in principle, a Concourse can be thought of as infinite and bounded; that is to say
that while a Concourse can always be enlarged, it always has an edge or boundary of
differentiation from all other Concourses. Usually, one consults a variety of books, newspapers,
magazines, focus groups, and individual interviews to collect people’s sentiments on the topic
under scrutiny.
[I]n Q samples are in terms of statements or other stimuli drawn from some
parent population. But whereas individuals are concrete entities that can’t be
drawn from populations of known boundaries […] it is virtually impossible
[…] to establish boundaries for a population of statements (Brown, 1980).
However, in the age of the Internet, smartphones, so-called social media, and the like,
the task of defining a Concourse presents new challenges for assembly; these challenges arise
due to unprecedented entrée to a multitude of readily available information sources. For the
topic here, clearly, the Concourse of sentiment about “what does the World Cup mean to
Brazilians” is to be found outside the usual sources, particularly because the various actors in
the Jornadas de Junho extensively utilized the most modern communication technologies.
A Q study of the Brazilian political answers to the question “world cup for whom?”: what would come next?
Teoria & Pesquisa: Revista de Ciência Política, São Carlos, v. 34, n. 00, e025003, 2025. e-ISSN: 2236-0107
DOI: 10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075 10
Furthermore, it is well known that the manipulation of images filled with emotional appeal
encapsulates much. We chose to limit our foray into Brazilian sentiment to a Concourse of
publicly available images by playing off the cliché that one picture equals a thousand words: a
single image often evokes a variety of narratives, and thus a Q sample of such images would
open the way to many possible factors. But one is mindful of limitations; it is wise to remember
that a Q sample yields a rough-grained picture of communicability.
Seeking out expressly evocative images, a Concourse was acquired via Google image
searches using the phrases “Copa 2014 FIFA” and “Jornadas de Junho,” conducted on March
22–25, 2014. From the thousands of posters, placards, cartoons, and news photographs
available, more than four hundred make up a Concourse suitable for this Q study. It is comprised
of a variety of sentiments toward the Cup expressed in visual form. Immediately, in surveying
this Concourse, one encounters an atmosphere of direct confrontation: naked propaganda
appeals utilize treasured images of the iconic Maracanã stadium, the statue of Christ the
Redeemer, soccer idol Pelé, a child playing ball on a beach; spontaneously lettered placards
reveal heart-rending conflicts between national pride and personal hurt.
Inspection in terms of the sources of the images indicated two broad levels, namely,
images containing spontaneous commentaries and images created for and propagated by FIFA,
the Brazilian government, commercial sponsors, news organizations, and the like. These two
levels suggested a rough-and-ready design for selecting a Q sample.
Table 1: Exploratory Design for World Cup 2014 Q sample
Source
Designed
Ad-lib
Valence
Positive
Negative
Source: the authors.
After the images were selected, participants were suggested to choose the 35 most
significant images. Thus, a Q sample of 35 images was constructed and administered to 30
residents of Teresina, women and men from different socio-economic classes, different age
groups, fans and non-fans. Participants were asked to classify the 35 images from most
significant to least significant. Nine centroids were extracted from the correlation matrix and a
Varimax rotation was performed, which was then tweaked by further judgmental rotation, using
PCQ for Windows. An acceptable solution was found, having two factors, A and B, with factor
A being bipolar. For analysis purposes, factor scores for the two poles of factor A were estimated
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DOI: 10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075 11
independently and are labelled as Factor A+ and Factor A-, respectively. Above, detailed results
(Table 2) and images (Figure 1) as they ranked by Factors.
Table 2: Characteristics of World Cup 2014 Centroid Solution
FACTOR A+ (11 sorts)
sort--load
fem_42_c_professor 4 0.69
fem_34_c_nurse 7 0.79
fem_24_s_jornalist 8 0.50
masc_28_s_managing 14 0.68
fem_36_s_house keeper 18 0.45
fem_21_s_secretary 22 0.48
sort--load
fem_29_s_designer 24 0.63
masc_22_computing 25 0.49
masc_29_s_system analist 26 0.78
masc_23_s_no work 28 0.47
fem_20_s_studant 29 0.66
FACTOR A-(7 sorts)
sort--load
fem_33_s_accounting 9 0.50
fem_45_d_marketing 11 0.67
fem_23_s_studant 13 0.69
fem_58_s_no work 15 0.49
sort--load
masc_30_b_computing 16 0.59
masc_51_c_taxi driver 17 0.50
fem_28_s_communication sonsulting 23 0.70
FACTOR B (9 sorts)
sort--load
masc_62_c_geo 1 0.48
fem_27_c_arquitet 2 0.56
masc_44_c_professor 3 0.65
fem_56_c_public services 6 0.50
masc_55_d_geologist 10 0.46
sort--load
fem_54_s_banking service 12 0.67
fem_22_s_journalist 19 0.57
fem_34_c_house wife 20 0.45
fem_35_c_house cleaning 21 0.44
No significant loading (3 sorts)
sort
fem_39_c_ accounting 5
fem_35_c_house cleaning 21
masc_66_s_professor 30
Source: the authors.
A Q study of the Brazilian political answers to the question “world cup for whom?”: what would come next?
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DOI: 10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075 12
Figure 1: Important images
Source: the authors.
Results and comments of factor structure
Street mural art near the FIFA stadium in São Paulo asks, in symptomatic form, the
following question: “World Cup for whom?” The image works as a master guide for an initial
appraisal of the factors. It leads to some of our first observations because it is ranked highest
(+4) on the positive pole of Factor A and therefore points the way toward an understanding of
three narratives that explain what the 2014 FIFA World Cup means to Brazilians. There are two
factors, A and B, with Factor A being bipolar. Multiple responses to the question are given:
Factor A+ (11 sorts) is an agonizing justification for asking the question “World Cup for
whom?”; Factor A− (07 sorts) chooses to idolize children and the statue of Christ the Redeemer
on Corcovado; and Factor B (09 sorts) elaborates a conscious attempt to find some kind of
harmony in the conflicting values, trying to find a state of temporary balance. The narratives
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DOI: 10.14244/tp.v34i00.1075 13
that pervade the factors are laden with conflict, even anxiety, as will be illustrated in the
following discussion, which is based on diverse theoretical perspectives and explores
qualitative and quantitative approaches. In fact, this cross-sectional approach relates different
theoretical and methodological perspectives.
According to the factor structure, the scenario envisioned by Factor A was divided
between two confrontational but non-exclusive sentiments: the nationalist boosterism of official
messages and the popular criticism expressed in the streets. It is interesting to note that in both
cases, there are patriotic feelings put into play by almost everyone. Beyond political ideology,
wouldn’t these different ways of expressing the feeling of patriotism be a matter of affiliation
and political decision? Whether one favors holding the World Cup or is against it, each
expresses, in their own way, a sense of love of country and a willingness to belong to a wider
group. Whether one is a fan of the national team, ignoring any consequences, or one protests
holding the World Cup, all are Brazilians who want to be involved with the political-social
situation in some way, at least at the symbolic-imaginary level.
Additionally, with this factor structure, it is possible to understand attitudes and opinions
of Brazilians in this time-space context and beyond. One can also identify certain patterns of
political behavior that have characterized the middle class and young Brazilians in recent
decades, evidencing the creation of an ambience of exchange and very high interaction between
individuals in the public space. One can appeal, for purposes of theoretical and epistemological
discussion, to the possibility of a rapprochement between the concepts of consciring,
formulated by William Stephenson (1980), and of dialogism by Mikhail Bakhtin (1988):
consciring is sharable knowledge in a given cultural context, i.e., a mode of knowing with and
understanding with someone about a reality that forms through dialogic, interactive processes.
Consciring is a relational way of knowing reality and communicating something about it.
Therefore, it means something communicable and fits perfectly into the theory of verbal
interaction put forth by Bakhtin, for whom all communication is an act of social and cultural
sharing, in which interpretative models are the stock in trade (Said; Stricklin, 2014).
This is a central point: thoughts, and therefore attitudes, are the result of intersubjective
relationships. This theoretical framework makes social interaction directly cogent, and
everything in this context is self-referential: “the Q sorts are correlated with one another,
bringing past into present and future in the process” (Stephenson, 1987). Communicability is
the possibility of self-expression in a specific context of interaction and shared ideas. In
Bakhtin, subjectivity is the ultimate expression of the coordinating role of language. It is not
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specifically about mere interaction but an interactive context in which the individual fits,
models themselves, and ultimately thinks about themselves as a subject. Moreover, this is a
context of high complexity, where many agents interact. If there is any possibility of
understanding subjective behavior objectively, it is only through the perspective of interaction
with others, when we share knowledge (consciring). To this, Stephenson gives the name
communicability. And this is what Q methodology measures.
Factor A (Bipolar, 11 positive and 7 negative loaders)
On Factor A, there is a fundamental conflict. If we examine the two poles separately, it
is clear that the negative pole favors the Cup (integrative), and the positive pole is against the
Cup (critical), retaining a rejection of the institutional order as practiced, in a political attitude
that does not separate political action and the passion for soccer. When, however, we look at
the two poles and connect them, the conflict becomes clear—and will be deepened over time.
This ambiguous feeling does not seem to be resolved consciously. The rankings demonstrate a
certain anxiety on the part of all co-authors of Factor A. As much as they do not want to mix
politics with soccer, this becomes impossible. They strive, therefore, to separate their feelings
and attitudes: on one side, passion for soccer; on the other, political criticism. But this division
is complicated and sometimes a source of uncertainty. This conflict is in the minds and hearts
of the co-authors and is revealed in some of the comments made by participants when
performing the Q sort. For example, in the case of Sort #14, a 28-year-old woman,
administrator, single, justifying her ranking of items at +4: “the World Cup is nice, but investing
in education is even better!”
There is a sense of conflict to be found in many of the sorts. On one hand, they are
critical and are disappointed with public policy as practiced and the situation in the country. On
the other hand, they cannot avoid patriotic feelings that is elevated by the proximity to the World
Cup, especially because of the scope and frequency of advertising campaigns and propaganda
of patriotic character. In other words, they are divided between expressing criticism of the
government and the situation of the country and cheering passionately for the national team at
the World Cup of 2014. This is expressed in the ambivalence of the factor under consideration.
For many, this may seem an ambiguous feeling and therefore they turn ambivalent. But a more
refined analysis allows one to realize that there is a tension and a dispute between the collective
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sense of reality (the actual situation of the country with all its problems) amongst the co-authors
of this factor and the collective imagination (images associated with soccer conforming to a
feeling of Brazilianess and of belonging to a group) that impregnates the individual feeling.
We can attribute to Factor A+ a feeling of social commentary that is acute in its
analytical capacity and in the impact that popular demonstrations provoke in its sense of reality.
This critical attitude could be the opposite of cognitive dissonance. This is made clear in the
justification given by Sort #7 for the choice of items scored most positively: “they convey a
message about the reality of current Brazil on the eve of the Cup.” It is important to note also
that the conflict alluded to above is expressed and usually resolved with a cynical response
and/or based on humor and comedy. Sort #29, for example, made a joke, using an error in the
Portuguese language and writing in a playful way in a comment that underscores his social
commentary in a feisty and playful manner (see Bakhtin, 1988, 1997a, 1997b and Stephenson,
1967): “Brazil, Gol de PRACA (sic) – mais educação.” This is to say, ironically, “the public
protests were like a particularly beautiful score, in favor of more education.”
There is, on the other hand, a surreptitious criticism linking the World Cup to the
Brazilian government. The images and discourses of an institutional slant, particularly those
that contain an image of President Dilma Rousseff, are always ranked negatively by the positive
pole of the factor. The official and institutional propaganda is only ranked positively by Factor
A- and similarly ranked positively by Factor B when the message is detached from an image of
the President and/or her government.
Thus, the images defending the hosting of the Cup and patriotism associated with the
government (images containing Dilma or with a more institutional character) are given little
salience and almost always a negative valence, indicating that co-authors of Factor A, even
those who are in favor of the realization of the World Cup (the negative pole), adopt a critical
stance when it refers to images favoring institutional personalities, favoring the maintenance of
social order and the defense of political parties and groups. This is revealing of a new way of
engagement and of a political activism that materializes in the conduct of public events, with a
ritualistic aspect and a playful character. William Stephenson (1967) had already defended the
idea that a ludic environment promotes self-reflection, but also the critique of the existing social
order. The streets of Brazil in June 2013 were pure party, ecstatic ritual, the carnivalization of
public order (Bakhtin, 1999). The chaos generated by the demonstrations opposed the
monotony of institutional speech. There is no evidence of support for public institutions. All
items ranked highly by co-authors of Factor A- refer to patriotic sentiments stated in symbols,
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leaving aside governmental and institutional appeals, as in the case of Sort #23, who drew a
picture of the Brazilian flag and wrote “in 2014, the Cup is green and yellow” to justify the
choices made. On the other hand, the crisis of current political leaders (in this case, President
Dilma) would produce an empty space that, further ahead, would demand the emergence of
new leaders, one of whom would use the country’s symbols in a paroxysmal way.
Factor B
In Factor B, there is a conscious attitude that one can mix criticism of the government
and the World Cup with the Brazilian feelings that soccer evokes and still be consistent. The
co-authors of Factor B have criticized the state of the nation and government policies, but they
love soccer, love the country, and cannot stop cheering for the national team. This perspective
consciously and decidedly takes up the proposition that patriotism can seamlessly alternate
between passion and criticism, adhesion and dissent. They are those who would try to resolve
the conflict in as conciliatory a manner as possible. They are confident that they can be in favor
of the World Cup, in favor of Brazil, and at the same time criticize the World Cup and the
country. This becomes clear upon examination of the highest-ranked items for this factor: “NOT
AGAINST THE TEAM. AGAINST THE CORRUPTION” and “FIFA quality for Schools and
Hospitals.” Further, the co-authors of Factor B rated positively (+3) also images which highlight
the sporting event and justify the choices consciously made: “the happiness of a people should
not be limited to events occurring at four-year intervals, but in the dignity of always providing
for their welfare in its fullness” (Sort #3). And again: “I prefer to first look at the positive side
of the Cup, the fun, but at the same time, I think it is a bit of a policy of bread and circuses”
(Sort #2).
“We don’t want to just have fun. We want dignity, #Copa for whom?” (Sort #19). This
is the comment that is most emblematic of Factor B. It expresses a doubt that ripples across the
factors of the study and is said to underscore the diversity of the Brazilian population and the
social inequalities in the country. It is in this sense that this Q study may lead to interesting
reflections about national identity and political divisions, which guided the subsequent political
events.
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Final considerations
An interesting datum about the factors of this study is the fact that, when the images
defend the World Cup and exalt patriotism, they refer to patriotic symbols (the sun, beaches,
monuments, idols, etc.), and they receive positive rankings on the negative pole of Factor A and
of Factor B. Additionally, the images ranked as neutral, such as the official logo of the Cup, its
mascot, the commemorative coin, and the twelve new stadiums, don’t awaken strong positive
or negative feelings in any of the factors. These images are more neutral and irrelevant—maybe
because they do not reach the imaginary and symbolic levels of patriotic feelings that the World
Cup awakens, particularly in a country where soccer is considered an element of national
identity.
In the “country of soccer,” this sport invented by the English can integrate feelings, but
it cannot unify Brazilians. Brazil is a multicultural and interfaith nation and, even more, a nation
composed of diverse social strata. Brazilians assumed different attitudes and opinions with
respect to the implementation of the World Cup in Brazil, as seen in this study. In short, it seems
that Brazilians can divide but also integrate when it comes to the World Cup. This broad socio-
symbolic spectrum is clear if we launch our gaze to the streets of the country, since June 2013,
taken by protesters who expressed the most diverse, distinct, and sometimes discordant points
of view on the nation’s reality. However, a vindication of political citizenship, despite the
differing inclinations of identity of the people who protested in the streets, is much more than
the sum of unique features and regional differences. Most of the people who went to the streets
in every state of the country had similar orientations: they were there to promote social
criticism, to protest for some reason, and to accomplish this in a playful, even comical, way.
Yet they were demanding better living conditions. The street was turned into a venue for the
staging of different actors who would claim a leading role over the next few years, as their
connection to the agendas of political parties became more complex.
Much has been speculated about June 2013: the meeting of plural identities; the
replacement of indirect representative politics by collaborative action in networks; the moment
in which the poor descended from the “favela” and the middle class left Facebook; the
conjunction of varied spaces (streets and networks) in which different times were present. In
fact, the protests sparked a political hiatus and a rush to fill this gap. Until that moment, there
was no clear political intention linked to political parties or groups, whether on the right or left.
The results of the 2018 presidential elections (55.13% for the right vs. 44.87% for the left) and
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2022 (50.9% for the left and 49.10% for the right) confirm the process of political division that
was already ongoing and whose paroxysm can be glimpsed in the invasions and depredations
of public property in January 2023. What relationship is there between the demands of the 2013
and 2014 protests and the authoritarian and ultra-conservative inclination of the alleged acts of
vandalism in 2023? It is no mere coincidence that the factors revealed in the Q Study indicated
that, despite criticism of institutional policies, the feeling of patriotism survives, assumed in
each group that constitutes the factors under analysis in a distinct and often confusing way.
Does this Q Study presume that the research participants were waiting for that feeling to be
better conveyed when political disputes at the electoral level began to take shape?
It seems that the analysis of polyphony in the streets crowded with people is
symptomatic and revelatory of the apparent political (and communicative) chaos that would
soon indicate the political alternatives left to voters: how can we see the link between someone
demanding private issues in the streets in 2013 and the political agenda of political parties in
the 2018 and 2022 elections and, on the other hand, the 2023 invasions? There is a disjunction
and incongruity between many homogenizing and unifying discourses delivered by public
institutions and what the multi-faceted groups and individuals want to comprise today—what
classical sociology generally referred to as civil society. In every demonstration against the
World Cup, personal feelings and individualized demands were publicly shared, and new
discourses, polyphonic and dialogical, emerged. These are results of the interactions between
different people in the augmented public space of the street and of social networks. A discussion
of such matters can lead to many theoretical speculations: individualism, collectivism,
collective crisis, new forms of sociability and group cohesion, tribalization, a crisis of indirect
policy models, and representativeness. On the other hand, there is a demonstration of how
individual people are formed through and with interactions and relationships with their fellows.
This intersubjective game contains semiotic interactions that occur in common and are situated
among social actors, just as Bakhtin (1988, 1997a, 1997b, 1999) proposed with his theory of
sign action, and Stephenson (1980) with his concept of consciring, which signifies cultural
awareness built in participatory and interactive ways. Combining diverse methodological
approaches, a Q Study argues that the analysis of subjectivity depends on correlations among
numerous subjects. The results can be understood as a possibility among the many possible
contexts in which interpersonal communication occurs in unpredictable ways within some
singular political and cultural contexts.
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Regarding this Q Study, despite regional peculiarities, it can be said that (a) some believe
they need not wear the Brazilian team jersey to be patriots (radical critics), but they cannot
avoid the emotion that soccer arouses; (b) others wear the jersey, cheer for the team, but are
critical of the direction of public policy (realistic critics who love soccer); (c) some do not see
a problem in rooting for Brazil, because they only want to think about the importance that soccer
has in their lives and in the social integration that the Cup might make possible.
In all of them, however, the patriotic sentiment sometimes reveals, albeit in different
modulations, a religious appeal. The 2018 presidential campaign is a good example of how the
symbolic spectrum conferred to the protests had already been insinuated in the advertisements
of the government of Dilma Rousseff after June 2013. In that institutional counter-offensive,
images of a religious nature presupposed a single meaning: the existence of God corresponds
with the image of Brazil as a fortunate land. As a result, the salvationist discourse of a religious
nature during the 2018 election fostered a form of group cohesion with refinements of
fanaticism, proclaiming the burial of parties and the end of political history. Needless to say,
the result was the election of the conservative Jair Bolsonaro.
To be sure, these reflections can point to important elements that explain Brazilian
political tendencies and can also contribute to understanding some of the political decisions and
policies that took place after the protests of June 2013.
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