Discourses on Inequality and Social Policy in Brazil and South Africa (1994-2024)

Have the discourses on inequality and social policy of Brazilian and South African governments changed over time, and if so, in which respects? To discuss the creation and disputes on official images of such a relevant issue in both unequal democracies, a frame analysis focuses on 67 annual speeches from the Executive to legislators (30 Presidential Messages in Brazil and 37 State of the Nation Addresses in South Africa). Hopes for novelty seen in expressions such as 'new republic' and 'new South Africa' were related to elevated levels of inequalities. Brazil and South Africa since 1994 have invited us to other images. This analysis points out coexisting images of inequality and social policy in both countries since inequality has been portrayed as a matter of injustice (highlighting the enforcement of rights as a policy), backwardness (anti-inflation and job creation policies), and debt (income transfer programs). The backwardness frame is more frequent in both countries, and the debt frame is gradually replacing the injustice frame, once referred to in the 1990s but more recently omitted. Variations are also noticeable in the relations between governmental priorities (e.g., inflation contention) and the agenda of reducing some inequalities.