Market Logic as an Efficiency Measure of the Organization of Olinda’s Carnival

Abstract Olinda’s Carnival (Mardi Gras) has become a mega-event in the last decades, proving to be an increasingly complex organization in how market logic is inserted and intensified. This diffusion of market logic in several instances of public life is a phenomenon closely associated with the premises of neoliberalism. In this sense, an important contribution is the analysis of the governmental rationality undertaken by Michel Foucault, inasmuch as his work goes back to the emergence of liberal thought and the rationality underlying it. Present study investigates how market logic is adopted in Olinda’s Carnival, based on discourse analysis as systematized by Foucault. Therefore, we analyzed the journalistic coverage of the 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2016 carnivals made by the two main Pernambuco newspapers. The 10-year gap between events was intended to enable the apprehension of substantial changes over the three decades. Our findings point to a quest for governmental efficiency on the part of the municipality, based on the homo economicus model and adopting political technologies aimed at mediating interests between market and society.

摘要：近数十年来，奥林达狂欢节（Mardi Gras，马尔迪格拉节）已发展为大型节庆活动，其市场逻辑的嵌入与强化过程，正使其组织运作日趋复杂。
市场逻辑在公共生活多个领域的扩散，是与新自由主义核心前提紧密关联的社会现象。就此而言，米歇尔·福柯（Michel Foucault）对治理合理性的分析具有重要参考价值——其研究可追溯至自由主义思想的起源及其内在的合理性逻辑。
本研究基于福柯系统化的话语分析方法，探讨市场逻辑在奥林达狂欢节中的渗透路径。据此，本研究选取伯南布哥州两家主流报纸对1986年、1996年、2006年及2016年狂欢节的新闻报道作为分析样本。各年份样本间隔十年，旨在捕捉三十年间发生的实质性变迁。
研究结果显示，当地市政府基于经济人（homo economicus）模型，采用旨在调和市场与社会间利益的政治技术，以寻求治理效能的提升。