Mário Theodoro presents a Brazil shaped by racism and its maintenance

A social conformation based on racism. A society molded in inequalities and that works for its maintenance. An economy built on slavery.

At the same time, social and economic theories that ignore that slave-holding countries had their identity formed from the black subalternity imposed by the state and the white elite.

The economist Mário Theodoro, in “Unequal Society: racism and whiteness in the formation of Brazil” (Zahar, 2022), brings together these characteristics in an in-depth study on the centrality of the racial issue in the country’s history. For him, what prevents social and economic progress, and the consequent decrease in inequality, is the inferior position imposed on blacks in all areas.

“This is the great obstacle to the construction of a democratic society, socially integrated and economically thriving”, he says in an interview with Sheet by email.

The book deals with the concept of “unequal society”, which is defined as a social body characterized by extreme and persistent inequality, which manifests itself as a function of a racially discriminated group –in this case, the black population–, with an intensity that exceeds the limits of legality.

Such a society is characterized by the production of asymmetries in areas such as the job market, education and health; the establishment of legal and repressive mechanisms that act in order to preserve inequality; and by mechanisms that aim to weaken social movements, which are unable to accumulate economic and political resources to change the situation of inequity.

“This unequal society will have a significant immutability in terms of levels of inequality, even in times of economic growth”, says the work.

Divided into six chapters and an epilogue, the author discusses how racism is part of the country’s project, showing that preventing the economic rise of the black population has been a constant task of the Brazilian white elite and its rulers since the beginning of slavery.

For Theodoro, the economic dynamics that restrict gains to certain segments to the detriment of others is the essence of what is being called an unequal society.

“Unfortunately, the country project in the perception of Brazilian elites goes beyond the distributive issue. Equality as a value to be pursued by society is not consolidated as such, whether in terms of equality in opportunities or equality of rights. our organization takes place precisely in the hastening of inequality”, says the economist.

The work also details the characteristics of this type of society in the micro spheres, in the daily life of the citizen, and macro spheres, where the State operates.

In the first, racism manifests itself through prejudice and discrimination. The second comprises whiteness, which places white culture, its habits and choices as a social and political standard; in addition to biopower and necropolitics, which concern the power of the State to decide on the life and death of the Afro-descendant population.

Theodoro begins with the challenges of studying racism, starting from the theoretical and methodological framework used. It also shows how studies in the area of ​​economics or even social sciences are limited in the subject, and presents some of the theorists used for the construction of the book.

Some of the most cited, whose works were used in the development of the theory of unequal societies, are the psychologist and activist Cida Bento, the Cameroonian historian Achille Mbembe and the French philosopher Michel Foucault.

The book also unravels the Brazilian labor market since slavery, showing how part of the nation’s project is that the black population never had, for the most part, jobs that guaranteed them rights and were well paid.

The thesis is supported that the labor market in the country was shaped by inequality and works towards its amplification.

“There were few moments in the history of Brazil when the black population benefited from economic growth”, says the economist when saying that blacks, when they achieved some economic growth, were soon slaughtered by policies that reaffirmed the project of subalternity aimed at this population.

“The unequal society develops sophisticated processes of exclusion that are difficult to face.”

The author is also dedicated to showing how racism manifests itself in the education and health system, presenting how essential public services are historically denied to the black population. His choice to deal with the cases jointly was, according to the work, as a result of the policies promoted by the State having been inspired by eugenics and the theory of racial improvement.

Then, it still discusses the occupation of rural and urban spaces, and violence as a practice of the State. The latter is presented as a uniting element of inequalities because, according to the theory, it takes different forms against the black population, such as the lack of formal employment, the poor housing conditions in the favelas, and the precarious access to public services in general. Such violence is consolidated, however, in a daily life of deaths as a result of trafficking, the action of militias, and “a police that is present not to guarantee safety and life, but for repression, if not extermination” , says the work.

“The biggest lesson is to realize that racism and its consequences are associated with the naturalization of inequality, and structure an unequal society to the detriment of the same group, regardless of size or scenarios. Whether in the job market, in education, in health , in terms of access to justice and public security, the black population is at a disadvantage”, says Theodoro.

the unequal society

Price: BRL 79.90 (448 pages); BRL 39.90 (ebook)
Author: Mario Theodoro
Publisher: Zahar