Corruption: Brazilian Experience and Post-Jungian Perspectives

While corruption has been a matter of discussion for many different fields of study, most theories focus on just one part of the problem, placing the responsibility either on the lack of morality of civil servants and politicians or on the inefficiency of political-administrative systems. As a universal example, I present the Brazilian case, in which corruption is a widespread social problem that seems to be directly connected with the collective identity of Brazilians and, for many, it is intrinsic to the ‘Brazilian way’ (jeitinho brasileiro). People’s opinions and current interpretive theories are superficial and tend to conclude that corruption is responsible for all national problems. Analytical Psychology can contribute with new approaches to the study of the corruption phenomenon. By applying psychotherapeutic values to political issues, this research proposes a closer look at the relationship between the inner reality of the Brazilian people and the world of politics in Brazil, particularly Brazilian corruption. The objective of this research is to analyse corruption at its three different but complementary levels: collective, cultural and individual. At the collective level, I dissect corruption as a universal concept in a dialect analysis with its opposites: order, good, conscience, integrity, adaptation and generation of life. At the cultural level, I present historical events and transgenerational traumas that might have influenced the current social-political scene. At the individual level of analysis, I examine the personality characteristics of corrupt individuals, such as the tendency to inflation and moral dissociation. Furthermore, I present a post-Jungian approach to morality and ethics by discussing the influence of the dissociability of the psyche over morality and the non-normative relationship between corruption and individuation, the process of the development of the personality.