Brazilian Elites and Population Policy

Abstract

The attempt is made to analyze the diverse views of influential public figures in Brazil with regard to government involvement in population and family planning. The evidence is drawn from interviews conducted in 1972-1973 with the objective of trying to capture some of the variety and ambivalence of opinion underlying what has been for the most part a laissez-faire policy with respect to population growth. Focus is on 3 aspects of elite attitudes toward population planning: 1) the priority various elite groups give to it relative to other issues; 2) their preferences about the role of the government regarding birth control and the relationship between these preferences and their positions on other developmental issues; and 3) their views regarding specific mechanisms of population policy. The 269 respondents represent a composite of 6 different groups. The priority given to population policy was very low during the Medici administration even by elites favoring some antinatalist measures and it probably does not stand near the top of the policyagenda under the current Geisel government. Preferences about population policy while divided are not so polarized as opinions on other issues. The population debate is fuzzy partly because opinions regarding it cannot be reduced to progressive or conservative stereotypes. The attitudes of the elites concerning specific population policy measures are more straightforward. A set of policies that can be identified as the core of an antinatalist program includes provision of contraceptive information increased supplies of contraceptives and birth control programs for low-income families. The data suggest that elites have a pragmatic orientation toward population policy.