ENTRE A COMPLEXIDADE E A PARTICIPAÇÃO: LETRAMENTO INSTITUCIONAL E CIDADANIA DEMOCRÁTICA
ENTRE A COMPLEXIDADE E A PARTICIPAÇÃO: LETRAMENTO INSTITUCIONAL E CIDADANIA DEMOCRÁTICA
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.642112610024
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Palavras-chave: Letramento institucional. Cidadania democrática. Letramento tributário. Letramento previdenciário. Democracia deliberativa.
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Keywords: Institutional literacy. Democratic citizenship. Tax literacy. Social security literacy. Deliberative democracy.
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Abstract: This article addresses a persistent gap in the critical literacy literature: the limited engagement with the institutional structures that materially sustain social life, particularly taxation and social security systems. In contemporary democracies characterized by increasing normative complexity, the growing cognitive distance between citizens and these systems constrains informed public participation and weakens deliberative processes. Drawing on a theoretical approach grounded in a structured narrative review and conceptual reconstruction, the study integrates three analytical frameworks: social and critical literacy studies, the capability approach and deliberative democratic theory, and the international literature on tax literacy and social security education. Based on this integration, the article advances the concept of institutional intelligibility, defined as the socially distributed capacity to understand and evaluate the mechanisms of state financing and social protection. The main argument is that tax and social security literacy should be recognized as an autonomous analytical category within the field of education. By expanding deliberative capabilities, reducing epistemic asymmetries, and strengthening the conditions for qualified public participation, institutional literacy operates as a cognitive infrastructure of democratic citizenship. The article concludes that incorporating institutional literacy into citizenship education does not represent a merely instrumental curricular expansion, but a structural response to the challenges posed by complex state systems. In this sense, enhancing public understanding of taxation and social security contributes to strengthening democratic legitimacy, institutional coordination, and the sustainability of the social contract.
- Diego Saraiva Sá
- Hélder Uzêda Castro