Structural racism?

A new way of thinking about Brazil

Abstract

Muniz Sodré, a prominent intellectual in Brazilian social thought and professor emeritus at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, released the book “O fascismo da cor: uma x-ray do racismo nacional” in 2023, a work in which he examines the racial issue in Brazil using an interdisciplinary approach. Sodré explores the evolution of racism, arguing that, although Brazil has not adopted formal segregationist policies like in the United States and South Africa, prejudice and racial inequality persist as a legacy of the slave social structure. This model, which he calls the “slave social form”, operates to maintain subtle but effective barriers to the social progress of black people, by denying or making invisible the historical and cultural heritage of this group. This work reinforces Sodré's relevance as one of the main interpreters of the complex Brazilian racial issue. The review proposes a critical analysis of the work, seeking to bring together the concepts brought by the author with some works of relevance in the discussion of race.