A constituição simbólica de um acontecimento: uma análise do processo de individualização do Mensalão

Abstract

In this research we analyze the process of symbolic constitution of Mensalão (a scandal of corruption of members of the Congress by the main governmental party), one of the most important events of the recent political history of Brazil, which happened in 2005. We try to identify, more specifically, the way it is individualized by getting a meaning and an identity as a singular event. We start our analysis by exploring the theoretical proposals about the scandal, how it is, in general, named. We highlight and integrate three different perspectives that we find complementary (Thompson, 2002; Adut, 2005; and De Blic and Lemieux, 2005), which indicate four elements that constitute a scandal: a transgression of social norms and values; its revealing and its public reaction; and its consequences for the actors and institutions involved. A scandal, however, is a way of classifying and treating an occurrence that, given its characteristics of impact and unpredictability, appears as an event: something that produces a crack in the experience of individuals and/or collectivities, which, when affected, look forward to define and understand what happened, act to deal with the situation and remake the continuity of the experience. In this way, we get support in the approach of the event proposed by Louis Quéré (1997; 2005) and take from it the analytical tools to study the Mensalão: the description, the narration, the pragmatic dimension, the public problems exposed, and the normalization of the event. We apply this analytical framework over a cluster of 1,269 journalistic texts, which were selected from the covering made by the Folha de São Paulo newspaper between June and December of 2005. Through a qualitative analysis of the written material, we identify and analyze the process of individualization of the Mensalão: 1) the description, which reveals, among other aspects, the dispute between the actors for the framing of the event (scandal; crises; anticipated electoral dispute; and temptation of a coup détat); 2) a narration, which indicates Roberto Jefferson and José Dirceu as the main protagonists and shows the different pasts (impeachment of Collor in 1992, the coup détat in 1964, etc.) and futures called by this event (presidential elections of 2006, etc.); 3) the pragmatic dimension, with all the actions 8 that constitute this type of event (indictments and accusations; investigations, defense, statements; remaking of political supports; public manifestations, etc.); 4) the trade of political support and the practice of unofficial financial support for elections as the main public problems exposed, the way they are treated by the actors and the way the mobilized framings guides the treatment of the issue; and 5) the normalization of the event through punishment of some of those who are accused. The enlightening of the construction of the narrative and of the normalization of the event show how the public problem were diluted in the personification of the problem of corruption.