A socio-institutional perspective on data protection in the Brazilian public sector

This paper presents a study on the implementation of Brazil’s General Data Protection Law within the public sector, with a specific focus on the São Paulo State Court of Justice. Through a survey-based research the paper discusses how public agents interpret, internalize, and operationalize the data protection legislation in their institutional routines. From a socio-institutional perspective, the study analyzes how legal compliance is shaped by organizational culture, hierarchical structures, cognitive schemas, and technological infrastructure. This perspective engages with the sociological framework of Pierre Bourdieu to conceptualize the State as a structured field in which agents’ positions, trajectories, and resources shape patterns of normative adherence. The results reveal heterogeneous patterns of adherence to data protection norms, conditioned by role-specific perspectives, institutional maturity, and sociotechnical factors. The paper demonstrates the relevance of the survey not merely as a diagnostic instrument but also as a reflexive mechanism capable of mapping the symbolic and behavioral landscape of legal implementation.