Do branqueamento às cotas raciais: conhecimento histórico e memória para a tomada de posição

• Ano de defesa: 2013
• Autor(a) principal: Costa Júnior, Clóvis Pereira da
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal da Paraí­ba; BR; Psicologia Social; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia Social; UFPB
• Palavras-chave em Português: Ações afirmativas; Preconceito racial; Negros brasileiros; Affirmative action; Racial prejudice; Black population; CIENCIAS HUMANAS::PSICOLOGIA
• Link de acesso: https://repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/tede/6919

Undeniably, racial prejudice is an issue of great social importance. Its extent permeates the relations established by individuals and groups and the modes of forming social interactions. Such constructions are molded through the transmission of customs, ideologies, and culture. Likewise, relations of exclusion and segregation are formed in which minority groups are included, such as women, Blacks, etc. Indeed, the discrimination suffered by Blacks is manifest since their arrival in Brazil as African merchandise. However, after 512 years of Portuguese colonization, their situation remains characterized by stigma and social segregation. According to Carvalho (2003), in that year, the percentages of black students and faculty in Brazilian public universities fluctuated around 0.5%. The researcher even points out that, if conditions are maintained, the forecast for the next 170 years indicates that the index will not exceed 1% of the total. In this context, we discuss the implementation of public policies that promote equal conditions for the black population. This concerns the policy of racial quotas that, for Guarnieri and Silva (2007), are social measures aimed at democratizing access to universities by reserving spots exclusively for Blacks. Thus the general objective of this work was to analyze the relationship between historical knowledge about the role of Blacks in Brazilian society and the positioning of the participants with regard to affirmative action policies. Toward this end, we conducted two complementary studies using different methodological strategies. Study 1 was handled in a quasi-experimental 2 x 2 (type of context and type of school) posttest-only design, involving manipulation of variables and formation of a control group (CG) and an experimental group (EG). The voluntary participants in this study were 200 students in their second year of high school in João Pessoa, with 47.5% being from public schools and 52.5% from private schools. Of the total, 62.3% were female, with a mean age of 15 years (SD=0.8). The results showed very high rates of rejection of racial quota policies in both the control group (63.3%) and in the experimental group (69.4%), i.e. the manipulation of the independent variable was not strong enough to produce a greater accession and acceptance of racial quotas. In contrast, the vast majority of students in the EG were in favor of an apology. Nevertheless, regarding the analysis from the intersection of variables "placement of students" and "type of school", there was a statistically significant effect [χ²(1)=30.950, p<0.001], so there was a greater accession to racial quotas among students from public schools (74.2%). Indeed, it was found that the social backgrounds and socioeconomic levels had statistically significant effects [χ²(3)=46.398, p <0.001]. Thus, we can state that the majority of students belonging to the upper class were found enrolled in a private education institution (7.7%). Regarding the lower middle class, public school students had higher frequency (45.7%). Finally, on the analysis from the intersection of the variables "degree of racial identification" due to the "type of school" there was a statistically significant effect in relation to "Morenos" (dark-skinned) [χ²(1)=9.491, p<0.05] and "Blacks" [χ²(1) = 9.775, p <0.05]. Taken together, the results indicate that, although participants who self identified with whites are distributed equally in both types of school, participants who self identified with Blacks or Morenos are concentrated in the public schools. Overall, we observed the maintenance of the system that denies the possibility of access and career advancement to black Brazilians. Moreover, it can be said that the positioning of the study sample was organized based on social background criteria, and those with better financial conditions are connected to private institutions and show high rates of rejection of racial quotas. In the second study the aim was to investigate the discursive content compiled from the recovered memories, understood as social representations, from the time of black slavery, and their relationship with the positions on racial quotas. Meanwhile, the theoretical support favoring the investigation of the memories as social representations adds aspects of the theory of social representations from Moscovici (1961/1978) and Abric (2000) because, conceptually, the central core of the representation is related to the collective and historical memories of groups. The study sample consisted of 200 third-year high school students in public and private schools in the city of João Pessoa, being 58% female with a mean age 16 of 17 years (SD=2.3). The results confirmed the data from Study 1, particularly with regard to social stratification, focusing on the clear separation between participants who identified with white Brazilians and those who identified with black or dark-skinned Brazilians. Moreover, we also saw that public school students were concentrated mostly in lesser-advantaged socioeconomic classes and were more favorable to racial quotas [χ²(1)= 58.284, p<0.05] compared to private school students, who are found mostly in affluent socioeconomic classes [χ²(3)=52.077, p <0.05]. Regarding the memories, the data demonstrated that the process of constructing and updating social memories is seen intrinsically related to the group in which the individual is included. In this sense, the formation of memories, in this study, was linked to the established dichotomy between students who are white and of affluent social class, and students who are black, from disadvantaged social classes, and favorable to the establishment of racial quota policies. Taken together, the results indicate the importance and influence of the culture and customs of a particular social group, and how these elements act as standards that serve as sources for the formation of memories and recollections about everyday events.