Abstract
ABSTRACT This research sought to identify the participation of different races in organizations and to investigate the opportunities for black people, in terms of employability and professional growth, in Brazil. To meet this objective, documentary research was undertaken with 117 companies, which are among the 500 largest in Brazil. The results indicated that racial democracy is a myth in our society, hence the need to move forward with social policies that minimize inequalities between white and black people in the most significant company positions. The process of producing and reproducing racism continues to restrict the of black people to the highest hierarchical levels. In order to achieve equality for black people in the labour market, we must evolve from social policies of ‘good intentions’ to the concept of praxis and be positioned among the benchmarks of militant sociology, establishing a set of affirmative government policies, accompanied by practices that encourage diversity in companies and denounce ideologies which reinforce the myth of racial democracy.
Highlights
Studies on prejudice and social discrimination in Brazil are characterized by two predominant and basic perspectives
The myth of racial democracy in Brazil is founded on the presumed absence of legal segregation mechanisms and in the affirmation that there are no barriers to upward mobility for black people, given the “absence of prejudice and discrimination”
The sociologist, Gilberto Freyre (1933), recognizing the existence of racial prejudice in the country, inspired the idea of racial democracy, being the main articulator of this myth, arguing that the social distance between black and white people in Brazilian society is the result of class differences, and not the outcome of colour or racial prejudice
Summary
Studies on prejudice and social discrimination in Brazil are characterized by two predominant and basic perspectives. The myth of racial democracy is a constant reminder that Freyre (1933) bequeathed to contemporary Brazil, according to which Brazilian society was constructed from the desire to deny racial categorizations, since it is a country of mixed races, which believes in coexistence and the acceptance of different ‘races’, cultures and religions In the past, this miscegenation generated a democratizing force between the masters and the slaves and, today, has produced an equivalent memory. As Figueiredo (2012) clarifies, this position includes the absence of market segmentation oriented toward the black population Along these same lines, Rosa (2014) suggests that the so-called logic of group assimilation has prevailed in Brazil, which means the integration of cultural differences, in which minority groups undergo an acculturation process, incorporating ideas which the majority group proposes. Final considerations about this study are presented in the final section, clarifying the existing limitations and suggesting directions for future research
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