In his work entitled The Brazilian people, anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro states that “despite the association of poverty with blackness, the differences profound differences that separate and oppose Brazilians in blatantly contrasting strata are of the nature Social". (RIBEIRO, 2006, p. 215). This suggests that, in addition to the racial prejudice so discussed in Brazil, there is another that is based on the social position of individuals, according to their access to income, purchasing power, standard of living and level of schooling. In other words, in Brazil there is also the so-called social class prejudice.
When we talk about social class in sociology, we are automatically impelled to think about the work of Karl Marx, who, when doing a criticism of capitalism, states that capitalist society would be divided into social classes, one proletarian and the other bourgeois. Generally speaking, the first would be responsible for the workforce while the second would own the means of production. This would be characteristic of capitalist society, being a determining factor of social difference, especially with regard to possibility of access to the results of capitalist production (goods in general), a fact that would contribute to increasing the social inequality.
However, when we talk about social class to think about this particular type of prejudice, we should not only consider this sense seen in Marx, which presupposes the existence of a constant class struggle with antagonistic interests in capitalist society (which does not cease to be important). One must speak of social class in a broader sense, considering the various social groups in a socioeconomic classification, their position or status in the social structure, a fact that suggests the existence not only of two classes, but of so many others depending on aspects such as income levels, education, access to medical care, among others. factors.
In other words, we must think the idea of social class prejudice beyond the bourgeois/proletarian key, considering the existence of economically wealthier classes (millionaires, rich, upper middle class) and others with less resources (middle class, lower middle class, poor, destitute), with income being the determining factor of their social position and, thus, of the prejudice of class.
This brief observation is important since we can find urban workers who, although they are all proletarians, because they have different income groups, can manifesting class prejudice towards those who have a lower status in relation to purchasing power, either because they occupy inferior functions or because they have a lower degree of instruction. Naturally, the possibility of prejudice from the richest (owners of means of production, entrepreneurs, bankers) in relation to the poorer would be closer to this class antagonism so discussed by Marx.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
To get an idea, in 2011, in the city of São Paulo, there was a controversy regarding the construction of a subway station in an upscale region, more precisely in the neighborhood of Higienópolis. Residents of this locality demonstrated against the works for the simple fact of fearing the presence of people "strangers" around, claiming that the subway station would endanger security and tranquility locations. The controversy generated gained the news, because, despite the coherence of the argument in relation to the possible consequences in the region, such as the increase in the number of passers-by, it was a prejudiced point of view in relation to the large working mass that uses this type of transport. public. More than that, this discourse (perhaps not by a majority, but by a group of residents) would imply the attempt of a "territorial demarcation" by a certain class willing to remain isolated, far from what it seems bottom.
Like any other type of prejudice, this one, motivated by the economic situation, also manifests itself as a type of violence, in the same way as that given by the color of the skin, so common to society Brazilian. As a matter of fact, for Darcy Ribeiro, “it is not as blacks that they operate in the social framework, but as members of the poor, all mobilized by the same aspirations for economic and social progress [...]. It should also be added that [...] more than racial or color prejudices, Brazilians have ingrained class prejudice”. (ibid., p. 216).
Thus, what can be understood is that beyond the social and economic problems caused by the social inequality generated by the division of labor in capitalist society, social discrimination increases the difficulties encountered by the most poor.
Paulo Silvino Ribeiro
Brazil School Collaborator
Bachelor in Social Sciences from UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
Master in Sociology from UNESP - São Paulo State University "Júlio de Mesquita Filho"
Doctoral Student in Sociology at UNICAMP - State University of Campinas
Sociology - Brazil School
