Representation, reputation and expectations towards bureaucracy: experimental findings from a favela in Brazil

Symbolic representation and bureaucratic reputation both refer to perceptions of government agencies, but few studies have examined how these concepts interact. We employed a survey experiment in a Brazilian favela, a unique audience of vulnerable citizens defined by the intersectionality race, class, and spatial segregation, to probe how citizens perceive agencies with differing reputations (police versus public schools) when the agency leader is more or less representative of the favelados. We find representation enhances procedural justice expectations of the less reputable local police. Our findings highlight the relevance of representation when detrimental citizen-state encounters produce negative reputations for vulnerable citizens.