Keywords
Morality
Public Integrity
Political behavior
Political culture
How to Cite
Abstract
The aim of this article is to verify how different systems of moral values may impact leadership preferences, especially in the choice of a “dishonest” candidate or a morally optimal one, and corruption perceptions in the largest democracies in Latin America, Brazil and México. For the analysis, moral values were divided into two dimensions, personal values (private sphere), and social values (public and institutional sphere). The main question is: what set of moral values is most important to choice a political leader? The theoretical perspective is Social Psychology. The research used quantitative and qualitative methods, as data analysis and Focus Group. The findings indicate that for Brazilians public morality is more important and therefore they privilege honesty in politics, to the detriment of results. In contrast, Mexicans tend to be more pragmatic in their electoral decisions and tolerate corruption to the extent that the candidates are presented as efficient.
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