Corrupção, vitimização por crime e participação comunitária na América-Latina
| Autor | Alejandra Armesto |
| Cargo | Profesora investigadora en la sede mexicana de la Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, donde también coordina el Doctorado en Ciencias Sociales |
| Páginas | 97-120 |
Alejandra Armesto
Cadernos Prolam/USP, v.15, n.29, p.97-120, jul/dez.2016
97
CORRUPTION, CRIME VICTIMIZATION AND COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN
LATIN AMERICA
CORRUPCIÓN, VICTIMIZACIÓN POR DELITO E PARTICIPACIÓN COMUNITARIA EN
AMÉRICA LATINA
CORRUPÇÃO, VITIMIZAÇÃO POR CRIME E PARTICIPAÇÃO COMUNITÁRIA NA AMÉRICA
LATINA
Alejandra Armesto1
Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Cidade do México, México
Abstract: Studies about the effects of victimization on social capital find support for
contradictory hypotheses: crime victimization leads to both social withdrawal and greater
participation. Under what conditions does crime victimization induce community participation?
This article argues that this relationship is conditional on government corruption. I test this claim
with national survey data collected in 18 countries as part of the AmericasBarometer 2012 study.
Using hierarchical linear regression analyses, the study shows that victims of crime participate in
community organizations at a higher rate than non-victims, and that this participation is even
higher in countries with high levels of government corruption.
Keywords: corruption; crime victimization; participation; Latin America.
Resumen: Los estudios sobre la relación entre victimización delictiva y capital social sostienen
hipótesis contradictorias: la victimización por delito induce aislamiento social y mayor
participación. ¿Bajo qué condiciones la victimización propicia la participación comunitaria? Este
artículo argumenta que esta relación está condicionada por la corrupción gubernamental. Esta
hipótesis es puesta a prueba con datos de encuestas nacionales recogidos en 2012 en 18 países de
América Latina por el Barómetro de las Américas. Los análisis jerárquicos lineales muestran que
las víctimas participan en organizaciones comunitarias más que quienes no han sido víctimas y
que dicha participación es mayor en países más corruptos.
Palabras clave: corrupción; victimización por delito; participación; América Latina.
Resumo: Estudos sobre a relação entre a vitimização e capital social sustentam hipóteses
contraditórias: a vitimização criminal leva ao isolamento social e maior participação. Sob que
condições a vitimização pelo crime induz a participação em associações comunitárias? Este
artigo argumenta que essa relação é condicionada pela corrupção do governo. Esta hipótese é
testada com dados coletados em 2012 em 18 países da América Latina pelo Barômetro das
Américas. Usando regressão linear hierárquica, o estudo mostra que as vítimas de crimes
participaram em organizações comunitárias em uma taxa maior do que as não-vítimas, e que essa
participação é ainda maior em países com altos níveis de corrupção no governo.
1 Profesora investigadora en la sede mexicana de la Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, donde también
coordina el Doctorado en Ciencias Sociales. E-mail: <alejandra.armesto@gmail.com>.
Alejandra Armesto
Cadernos Prolam/USP, v.15, n.29, p.97-120, jul/dez.2016
98
Palavras-chave: corrupção; vitimização por crime; participação; América Latina.
1 INTRODUCTION
Studies about the effects of victimization on social capital find support for contradictory
hypotheses: crime victimization leads to both social withdrawal and greater social participation
and political involvement. On the one hand, victimization has been linked to lower levels of
wellbeing, a more limited social life, and lower levels of trust and participation. On the other,
psychologists have found that victims of violence are resilient, and political scientists have linked
victimization to higher political participation.
Under what conditions does crime victimization encourage community participation? This
paper argues that higher community participation in response to crime victimization is contingent
on corruption levels; more specifically, higher levels of corruption should intensify the effect of
victimization on community participation.
The analysis is based on national survey data collected in 18 Latin American countries as
part of the AmericasBarometer study. Latin America offers a good case to study the effects of
corruption on the relationship between crime victimization and participation for several reasons.
First, the region has become the most violent in the world. According to a United Nations study
on criminal violence, in 2012, about 30 percent of the homicides around the world took place in
Latin America, while the region’s 574 million inhabitants comprise just 8 percent of the global
population (UNODC, 2014). Second, while the region has high levels of violence and corruption,
there is ample variation in victimization and corruption among Latin-American countries. Last,
the focus on countries with similar developmental experiences makes more likely that the type of
violence and the understanding of what corruption means will be similar in different countries of
the region.
The results are consistent with the hypotheses put forth. Findings indicate that, first, crime
victimization is positively related to both predicted outcomes -social withdrawal and participation
in community organizations- and second, the effect of crime victimization on withdrawal and
participation is moderated by the level of corruption.
The article is organized as follows. First, I discuss the extant theories about the effects of
crime victimization on participation and lay out my expectations regarding conditional effects.
Next, I introduce the data on which the study bases its claims. The following section develops the
Para continuar a ler
PEÇA SUA AVALIAÇÃO