This article examines conflicts over how the role of promotor (public prosecutor) is classified and declassified by members of the Ministério Público in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. It aims to explain those positions by relating agents' representations and stances to social and historical conditioning, and to trace how disputes over legitimate representation shape institutionalization and the homogenization of classificatory practices within the institution.
socially structured classifications historical institutionalization
Data and methods
The author draws on a diverse set of empirical sources to analyze transformations affecting the Ministério Público in Santa Catarina across recent decades and the thirty years since Brazil's 1988 Constitution. The study constructs an analysis of disputes over legitimate representation of the promotor role, linking agents' positions to broader social hierarchies and dispositions.
Main findings
The abstract reports that the configurations structuring legitimate representations of the promotor role and the uses of law appear to stem from social hierarchies that serve as references for the morphological characteristics of the institutional space. The analysis highlights tendencies toward institutional homogenization and continuity in members' social origins.
- The piece focuses on representational disputes within the Ministério Público of Santa Catarina.
- It emphasizes social and historical conditioning as explanatory factors for members' positions.
