INDUSTRIALIZATION AND RACIAL-INEQUALITY IN EMPLOYMENT - THE BRAZILIANEXAMPLE

In Brazil, the relationship between industrialization and racial inequ ality has been central to the discussion of post-Abolition race relati ons because the country has had high levels of racial inequality along with rapid but uneven industrialization. I examine how racial inequal ity in occupations varies with levels of industrialization across 74 B razilian metropolitan areas in 1980. I find that industrialized areas have lower occupational inequality overall and especially in blue-coll ar occupations; but at higher occupational levels, racial inequality i s either greater or is unaffected by industrialization. These results persist despite controls for the percent nonwhite in the population an d educational inequality. Thus, this study supports the conventional v iew that race loses salience to class as industrial development increa ses, but only for blue-collar occupations; inequality at the white-col lar level is unaffected or even increases with industrialization. Incr eased educational opportunity has effects on inequality similar to tho se of industrialization. Implications for Brazilian race relations are discussed.