Perception of Discriminatory Practices Among Brics' Countries: Brazil and South Africa

This paper addresses the question of whether individual perception of discrimination is affected by occupational segregation by race and job status. We use data from Brazilian 2000 Census, Belo Horizonte Area Survey (2005)  and Cape Area Survey (2005) conducted by the Federal University of Minas Gerais and Cape Town University. These surveys were designed to have comparable socioeconomic measures of many kinds of both cities. Processes of opening and closing of the labor market due to racial discriminatory practices are well-established topics among social stratification literature. 

Perceptions of discrimination in South Africa and in Brazil are unique phenomena. In South Africa, up to 1994 discriminatory practices based on race were straightforward and safeguarded by national constitution. African, Coloured and Indian inhabitants were denied the right to vote and forced to reside in peripheral townships. Interracial sex or marriage was formally prohibited. In Brazil, in another hand, there is no clearly distinct cultural boundary that separates blacks from whites. Both groups have the same mother tongue and most identify themselves with the same icons of Brazilian nationality. The commonalities among Brazilian ethnic groups led to the establishment of a myth of racial democracy, that despite being contested with evidences, still seems to prevail in some sectors of society, whereas discriminatory practices linger as a tacit social agreement. We found evidences in both countries that point to a higher perception of social discriminatory practices when the socioeconomic and cultural status of the under-privileged group is higher. We can imply that more access to material and symbolic goods of the dominant group – as information, earnings and culture – could increase, instead of diminish, the perception of the minority groups of their conditions of prejudice and discrimination in the society.