Racial inequality in Latin America

Oxford Open Economics · 2025-01-01 · 10 citations

Abstract This study examines socioeconomic inequality in Latin America through the lens of race and ethnicity. Its primary source is census data, but it also draws on national survey data from the Latin American Public Opinion Project. Unlike national censuses, the Latin American Public Opinion Project uses more consistent measures of ethno-racial composition across countries and includes a unique interviewer-rated measure of skin color. The study finds that individuals with darker skin, as well as Black and indigenous populations, experience educational, income and occupational disadvantages, even when controlling for social origin. Nonetheless, the degree of inequality and the hierarchical order of Afro-descendants, indigenous peoples, mestizos, Whites and others varies across countries. Finally, the study explores possible policy solutions to address ethnoracial disadvantage, highlighting Brazil’s targeted anti-racism policies, the region’s most extensive case.

Racial and Ethnic Inequality in Latin America

2023-10-31 · 5 citations

This chapter examines socioeconomic inequality in Latin America through the lens of race and ethnicity. We primarily use national census data from the International Public Use Micro Data Sample (IPUMS). Since censuses use inconsistent measures of race and ethnicity, we also draw on two additional measures from the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP). Unlike censuses, LAPOP data offer a more consistent ethnoracial scheme across countries and a unique interviewer-rated skin color measure. Our study shows that black and indigenous populations and those with darker skin color experience educational, income, and occupational disadvantages, even after controlling for their social origins. However, inequality and hierarchical ordering of Afro-descendants, indigenous peoples, mestizos, whites, and others vary across countries. We include an extended examination of educational inequality in Brazil, the regions largest country. The chapter concludes with an exploration of public policy approaches to address black and indigenous disadvantage across Latin America while also highlighting the case of Brazil, where targeted antiracism policy is most advanced.

For Land and Liberty: Black Struggles in Rural Brazil. By Merle L. Bowen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. 249p. $99.99 cloth.

Perspectives on Politics · 2022-06-01

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

Does race response shift impact racial inequality?

Demographic Research · 2022 · 9 citations

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Sociology

Previous research posits that racial reclassification, or response shift, may confound measures of racial earnings inequality. However, this claim has not been systematically tested.

THE PUZZLE OF RACIAL INEQUALITY IN CUBA, 1980s–2010s

Du Bois Review Social Science Research on Race · 2021 · 14 citations

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Sociology

Abstract Contrasting perspectives on racism and racial inequality collide in contemporary Cuba. On the one hand, government officials argue that Cuba is a racially egalitarian country; though vestiges of historical racism subsist, systematic discrimination does not. On the other hand, social movement actors and organizations denounce that racism and discrimination are systemic and affect large sectors of the Afro-Cuban population. To draw these visions into scholarly dialogue, our analytic strategy consists in the comparative examination of both narratives as well as the empirical bases that sustain them. Using data from the 1981, 2002, and 2012 Cuban Censuses for the first time, as well as various non-census evidentiary sources, both quantitative and qualitative, we examine how racial inequality has evolved in Cuba during the last decades. Our analyses of census data suggest that racial stratification has a limited impact on areas such as education, health care, occupation, and positions of leadership. We find, nonetheless, that an expanding and strikingly racialized private sector is fueling dramatic income inequality by skin color beyond the reach of official census data. Our analysis sheds light on how different data can convey profoundly different pictures of racial inequality in a given context. Moreover, we highlight that significant contradictions can coexist in the lived experiences of racism and racial inequality within a single country context.

<i>Parenting Empires: Class, Whiteness, and the Moral Economy of Privilege in Latin America</i>. By Ana Y. Ramos-Zayas. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2020. Pp. 296. $104.95 (cloth); $27.95 (paper).

American Journal of Sociology · 2021-06-18

Modernity in black and white: art and image, race and identity in Brazil, 1890–1945

Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2021 · 9 citations

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Gender studies

As soon as I began reading Modernity in Black and White by Rafael Cardoso, I had a sinking feeling. I sensed that there must have been some mix-up. Had I agreed haphazardly to this review? Had ERS ...

9. Race Making in Black and White

Stanford University Press eBooks · 2020-07-03

Index

Stanford University Press eBooks · 2020-07-03

7. Affirmative Action

Stanford University Press eBooks · 2020-07-03