Social Classes and Tolerance to Corruption in Portugal: What is the Relationship?

Abstract

Corruption has been perceived as one of the main problems in Portuguese politics and society. However, the phenomenon is not new for the country. Therefore, this article tries to identify the ways in which tolerance to corruption is disseminated amongst various social classes. In order for a source of unrest to persist for a length of time, it requires a high degree of social tolerance. Using data from a 2006 survey (corruption and ethics in democracy project), this article presents a portrait of how different social classes correspond to different types of tolerance to parochial corruption. These groups have different views regarding the phenomenon as well as certain forms of non-transactive corruption that reproduce tolerance to corruption.