Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: AGENOR FLORENCIO COSTA NETO

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : AGENOR FLORENCIO COSTA NETO
DATE: 16/03/2026
TIME: 14:30
LOCAL: AUDITÓRIO E DO CCHLA
TITLE:

Betocracy and the Gambling Market: The Allegory of Luck Under Neoliberal Logic in Brazil

KEY WORDS:

Sports betting; luck; neoliberalism; labor precarization; betocracy.

PAGES: 63
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Ciência Política
SUMMARY:

This research examines the expansion of the online sports betting market (“bets”) in Brazil, analyzing how the symbolic construction of luck is appropriated to reinforce the premises of neoliberal ideology. The investigation is based on the research problem that the randomness of luck is transformed into a false possibility of control associated with the notion of merit, operating as a mechanism of domination and the naturalization of social inequalities. The central hypothesis argues that the elements structuring capitalist society—labor precarization, the individualization of responsibility, and the commodification of hope—are ideologically concealed by the allegorical condition of luck. To explain this dynamic, the thesis proposes the development of the concept of betocracy, understood as the appropriation of spheres of civil society by the betting market, sustained by the legal reorganization of the state to the detriment of a vulnerable working class. Methodologically, the research follows a qualitative approach with a critical-dialectical orientation, combining bibliographic research grounded in the Marxist tradition, documentary research through the analysis of laws and regulations governing sports betting in the country, and empirical research. The fieldwork phase consists of conducting focus groups with young people from three distinct public-school contexts, preceded by a pilot study that has already been structured. The expected results aim to understand and identify the social impacts of sports betting among precarized youth and to expose the contradictions of the Brazilian state in subordinating social protection to the logic of accumulation and financial regulation of the sports betting market.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 1517561 - GABRIEL EDUARDO VITULLO
Interno - 1913687 - CESAR SANSON
Externa ao Programa - 1420854 - ERIVANIA MELO DE MORAIS - UFRN