Social representations of the World Cup, FIFA and the Brazilian national soccer team/Representacoes sociais da Copa do Mundo, da FIFA e da selecao brasileira de futebol

This paper investigates the social representations of the world cup, the Brazilian soccer team and FIFA. It is a survey with 202 people, college students, from a public university of Paraiba. The results revealed a difference in evocations between the genders, as well as between the social class, men being more positive towards the World Cup and the brazillian soccer team than women and the economically underprivileged being the most critical. It was found that social representations have provided a better understanding of the World Cup, FIFA and the Brazillian soccer team, opening up an important opportunity for research in social psychology.