Fear and public opinion in contemporary Brazil

Abstract

This article reports on analyses and conclusions formulated from comments made on criminal violence in the recent democratic period of national history that had originated the master degree text entitled Culture of Fear: Reflections on Criminal Violence, Social Control and Citizenship in Brazil. This research has made possible pertinent reflections regarding the public opinion related to security, also serving for an ethical questioning on the importance of the participative citizen in the consolidation of the Brazilian democracy and on new existing forms of domination in our society. By detaching the manner in which the fear of criminal violence intervenes with our contemporary social relations we sought to identify it as a recent instrument of domination in the universe of politics.