Reclassificação racial e desigualdade: análise longitudinal de variações socioeconômicas e regionais no Brasil entre 2008 e 2015

Abstract

Racial categories in Brazil measure ethnic and racial identities. However, racial boundaries vary by time, space and context. The main hypothesis relates classificatory variations to socioeconomic features, pointing out that higher status individuals are more likely to be classified in whiter categories. The secondary hypothesis contends that Brazilian geographical regions impact racial boundaries. Based on classifications made by external observers (heteroclassification) in different points of time, between 2008 and 2015, this dissertation analyzes racial reclassifications in Brazil according to socioeconomic and regional characteristics. It answers whether racial reclassification also changes occupational and schooling gap estimates. Results endorse the hypothesis that well-positioned individuals are reclassified in brighter categories, although probabilities slightly increase with socioeconomic status. For example, individuals in the highest income decile increase 3% their probabilities to White reclassification, and decrease 7% Black category reclassification. The highest percentage variation on schooling and socioeconomic index is 8%. In contrast, geographical regions are highly associated to reclassification, as Brown reclassification is more likely in North and Northeast (0.67 probability in both), and in South and Southeast as White or Black. In this sense, socioeconomic variations matter to reclassification, but region highlights racial categories redefinition.