Revising control: the exercise of external social control on public administration. The case of Recife, Brazil.

Abstract

Interested in understanding external social control, this article aims to investigate the use of instruments and channels of social networks used to exercise social control under public administration, based on the citizen participation of residents in Recife (Pernambuco, Brazil). In order to do so, a field research was used, using unstructured interviews, empirical research with residents of the researched place, and documental research whose data were confronted with theoretical discourses. As findings of this research, interesting information is revealed for public managers, for the academic environment and for society, since it is concluded that despite the existence and availability of data for the exercise of external social control, these are still poorly understood. for a large part of the population; that citizens are interested in expressing their opinion on the acts of public administration; and, that the use of social networks/media should be better explored by information providers in order to avoid information noise and the generation of fake news. Key words: social control; social participation; social networks/midias used by society.