Brazilian Perspectives: Society, Stratification and Income Distribution

Abstract

This paper aims to present a general evaluation on the inequality, income distribution and social mobility in Brazil between 2002 and 2014, under the governments of the Workers' Party. In this way, from the methodological point view, it is based on both a review of the literature about that subject and an investigation of the primary sources of the Brazilian social policies. Among the results found out, it can be highlighting the following sample: 1) historically, Brazilian society has been marked by inequality in several ways, and this is probably a consequence of his colonial legacy; 2) In the period between 2002 and 2014, Brazilian social inequality declined; 3) the decline of inequality can be explained by income growth, higher schooling levels and labor formalization, but the targeted social program, Bolsa Família, also contributed to income convergence; 4) Brazil slashed poverty from 25 percent of the population in 2004 to 8.5 percent in 2014, and extreme poverty declined from 12 to 4 percent over the same period. Conclusively, it’s affirmed, for example, that the reduction of inequality in Brazil was the result of firm political decisions, as well as of the quality in management and implementation of the public policies by the technical teams.