Even though Brazilians are commonly known for being individualistic (“jeitinho”, etc.), we’ve been observing some signs of transformation on several levels pointing to a valuation of collectivity, specially when this concerns dealing with the problems of the country.
Starting from a macro perspective, Folha has published a quantitative study on ideological aspects of Brazilians, where we can find some interesting conclusions. The first observation is that opinions on specific issues (such as gun control, for example) do not necessarily reflect political affiliation, which suggests Brazilians, contrary to the US, for example, examine each of those issues individually, on less ideological grounds — which gets pretty clear when we take voting in consideration. Also noteworthy is the Brazilian perspective on migration, homosexuality and poverty, highlighting tolerance and search for equality and clearly progressive, even though most define themselves as right-leaning. Even though we don’t have historical data for this, as Pew Research would in the US, current data is already contrary to the stereotype.
From a micro perspective, other signs also point in the direction of collectiveness. In São Paulo, paulistanos, tired of wasting close to two hours a day on traffic, have massively supported the creation of exclusive bus corridors on several major avenues in the city. This signals an understanding that the best solution for the city’s problem is the prioritization of the collectivity versus the individual — unthinkable until not too long ago in a city known for its attachment to cars.
Indignant with the sudden price increase of non-essential goods and services, Brazilians in major cities are finding creative solutions to deal with the problem. In Sao Paulo, SP Honesta is a repository of bars, cafes and restaurants with pricing that’s considered fair. Boicota SP, on the other hand blows the whistle on stores with abusive prices and commercial practices. A very tongue-in-cheek designer from Rio has created the $urreal , ironizing the sky-high prices in the city. All three efforts value the role of the consumer as an arbiter and aim to use collectivity to act on a problem which is also a responsibility of those consumers — they can affect their reality by punishing or rewarding practices with their choices.
Another important subject on this new collective outlook is the occupation of public spaces. Last year in São Paulo several events were held at Minhocão (a long elevated road on a rather degraded city area), proposing a rethink of its usage or negotiating its deactivation. In Belo Horizonte, Baixo Bahia has found a very Brazilian way (a “pelada” — an informal soccer game) of bringing people of every kind to occupy public spaces and talk about their communities.
One of the most intriguing aspects of these transformations is that they seem to be motivated a lot more by pragmatism rather than ideology. This suggests an exhaustion of individualism as an approach in some parts of society. It’s a very practical example of the Games Theory, reinforcing collaboration as a most effective way of addressing social, economical, infrastructure and logistical problems in the country. In our opinion this can be the seed of an even larger change.
As we examine this movement from a consumption perspective, several possibilities in products, services and business models based on this collective aspect open up. And those are exactly the ones cynics say would never work in Brazil, highlighting the importance of bringing sharp cultural insight closer to corporations in order to challenge our own convictions everyday, as Grant McCracken has asserted.
