In November 2013 there were over 15 million party members in Brazil, representing nearly 11% of the electorate, which places the Brazilian democracy among the most significant in this aspect. Despite the tendency to overestimate these official data from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), it is nevertheless surprising that millions of individuals integrate organizations that are pointed out by part of the literature as weak, deprived of internal life and without strong linkages with civil society. Regardless of the diagnosis, factors such as the fluidity of the party system, the relative ideological undifferentiation among most parties, and the distrust of much of the population in relation to political institutions do not avoid many Brazilians from joining a political party. Using unpublished data, collected in a survey applied among party members of the state of São Paulo (in 2013), this paper explores two main points: 1) the reasons and paths that lead individuals to join a political party; 2) the activities performed within the party and the perceptions of members about this participation. The paper presents some preliminary findings and data covering the five major Brazilian parties: PT, PSDB, PMDB, DEM and PP. The research is supported by the The State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP – Research Project n. 2012/19330-8).
