Back to the past: gains and losses in Brazilian society

Abstract

During the first 15 years of the twenty-first century, Brazil’s economic growth and public policies were in the center of the debate on the growing “new middle class.” This new middle class is defined by people’s household income between the upper 10th percentile and the median (Neri, A Nova Classe Média, 2008). Although there has been a consensus about the increase in consumption and the improvement of living conditions for a significant proportion of the population, there is less agreement about the decline in inequality and the change in class distribution. Previous work was directed at challenging the very idea that Brazil had become a middle-class country during the first decade of this century, basically weighting class distribution against income distribution. In this article, we aim to step into the income distribution debate using six income groups as proportions of the median household per-capita income. Our data source is the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD-IBGE/Brazil) in 2001, 2008, and 2015. We analyze groups’ income distribution and characteristics using multinomial logistic models to take into account the effects of socioeconomic variables. We argue that there is significant stability in groups’ income structure during the period, revealing their resistance to inequalities (similar to the findings in the works of Piketty and Souza). We also indicate that the odds of being included in the upper-income categories are quite unequal, considering socioeconomic variables. Finally, we point out that the gains observed from 2001 to 2008 had faded by 2015 when the odds of being included in the upper-income categories were remarkably similar to those of 2001.

Origem social e desempenho escolar nos anos finais do Ensino Fundamental (2013-2019)

“…Chama a atenção não apenas a evidência sobre a persistência da distância entre os grupos, mas o relativo aumento observado nas últimas três edições. Pesquisas em outras dimensões de desigualdade têm indicado evidências sobre o aprofundamento das desigualdades nos últimos anos, o que tem sido sensível para o país (BARBOSA; SOUZA; SOARES, 2020; SCALON et al, 2021). Colocamos aqui uma questão semelhante, mas voltada para a investigação do aprendizado escolar e da distribuição das habilidades escolares.…”

Brazilian White-Collar Employees’ Discourses of Meaningful Work and Calling

“…Impermanence discourses uphold discontinuities in work and, by extension, personal lives in globalized markets. Impermanence has been shown to manifest in low job stability, part-time jobs, informal sector work, ambiguities about class distributions and opportunities for social and income mobility (Scalon et al, 2021), as well as meanings of class regarding inequalities and racial injustices (Lustig et al, 2020;Salata & Scalon, 2020), and myths of meritocracy (Wayne & Cabral, 2021). Impermanence promotes workers' autonomy as means of dealing with discontinuities while also affording opportunities for more fluid work arrangements and pursuit of new experiences throughout careers (Kuhn et al, 2008).…”

“…This rhetoric defends the reduction of the state as the solution for corruption (Brown & Cloke, 2004). Given the influences of national-bound and global/neoliberal discourses regarding work, recent national conflicts and the fact that socioeconomic gains in the early 2000s had faded by 2015 (Scalon et al, 2021), we ask: How do Brazilian white-collar employees derive meaningfulness from their work?…”

“…White-collar workers in Brazilian middle classes subscribe to illusions of their successes as coming from their efforts (meritocracy, individualism) rather than social origins (Salata & Scalon, 2020). Given racial inequities in Brazilian social structures, most white-collar workers and upper-middle-class individuals are white (Scalon et al, 2021) and work in urban settings. There are vast differences in Brazilian industrialized sectors.…”

“…Brazil offers unique opportunities for organizational communication scholars as a multicultural and complex country with work ranging from that of Amazonian indigenous tribes to high-tech and gig laborers in São Paulo. do Carmo Reis (2009) described key events and processes that shape Brazilian organizational communication—industrialization, harsh military regime, reestablishment of democracy, and globalization—to which impacts of economic stagnation, growing inequalities, widespread COVID-19 deaths, political corruption, and environmental concerns can be added over a decade later (Costa, 2020; Scalon et al, 2021). The 2000s saw the rise of the Brazilian middle class.…”