Book Legacies of Race: Identities, Attitudes and Politics in Brazil by Stanley Bailey essay
The book Legacies of Race: Identities, Attitudes and Politics in Brazil written by Stanley Bailey, a well-known Sociology Associated Professor at the University of California, discusses racial issues in Brazil. This book is considered to be an important contribution to the modern literature that explores racial attitudes in the United States because the author of the book tries to find similarities and differences between racial attitudes of these countries. Stanley Bailey is interested in Brazilian racial attitudes, politics and identities and proves the fact that in the USA, racial issues are more highlighted. In Brazil, the situation is different. The Afro-Brazilian citizens consider themselves as the representatives of the mixed race, but not as blacks or whites. Moreover, in Brazil people try to avoid rigid discussions concerning racial groups.(Bailey 2)
The book Legacies of Race: Identities, Attitudes and Politics in Brazil consists of ten chapters: Chapter I Introduction, Chapter II Understanding Racial Attitudes, Chapter III Racial Boundaries, Chapter IV Race and Culture, Chapter V Stratification Beliefs, Chapter VI The Black Movement, Chapter VII Affirmative Action, Chapter VIII Racial Sorting, Chapter IX Race Making in Black and White, Chapter X Conclusion. Each of these chapters discusses significant racial issues which help to understand “the legacies of race” in our society.
In the first chapter of the book the author introduces those facts which help the readers to understand the importance of racial identities, attitudes and politics in Brazil and in the USA. He states that social science research which explores racial dynamics in Brazil identifies the myth of racial democracy. Moreover, the author of the book represents the ideas of those experts who have already studied racial attitudes in the present-day Brazil. For example, Gilberto Freyre, who is a well-known Brazilian social scientist, is sure that the so-called cross-breeding can produce “hybrid vigor in humans and thereby heralded a bright future for the otherwise condemned dark Brazilian nation.” (Bailey 1)However, the other social scientists speak about “white racial purity”. One of the most interesting things is that Gilbert Freyre is sure that in Brazil there are three races: Africans, Europeans and indigenous and the fourth race is a mixed race, or a Brazilian “meta race”. Moreover, the author states that such type of violent racism and separatism which can be found in the United States, is practically impossible in Brazil. Stanley Bailey identifies the potential boundaries of racial groups, tries to explain racial dynamics in Brazil, discusses the work of social scientists of the UNESCO group on racial issues, including prejudices and discrimination, and other important issues.
In the second chapter of the book the author tries to explain the meaning of an attitudinal complex and to define it as an object of study. The author represents three main perspectives on the study of racial attitudes. They include group conflict theories, social identity theory and socio-cultural theories. Stanley Bailey refers to the ideas of other specialists who investigated racial attitude issues; among them are Schuman and Krysan. Moreover, the author of the book represents racial attitudes research which concerns the United States and focuses on discussion of racial attitudes in special public opinion surveys. Stanley Bailey pays special attention to sociocultural approaches which give explanation to racial attitudes. Symbolic racism is one of them. He writes, “Children and adolescents acquire prejudice along with other values and attitudes that are normative in their social environment.” (Bailey 16) It means that racial prejudice will persist through their life due to conformity pressure and “the intrinsic strengths of early-learned attitudes”. The author of the book is sure that symbolic racism influences the traditional American morality. Group Conflict theories are included in another approach which is used in the study of racial attitudes. Social dominant theory is one of them. The main idea of this theory is “social dominance orientation” which shows “the degree to which people desire unequal, dominance oriented relationships among different groups within the social system.” (Bailey 18)
In the third chapter of the book Legacies of Race: Identities, Attitudes and Politics in Brazil, the author discusses the role of racial boundaries in the attitudinal context. He explores the main analytical concept – the concept of racial group, which is of great importance in the analysis of the public opinion concerning racial issues. This chapter is focused on the extensive data which represents racial identification. The author tries to understand racial boundary dynamics in Brazil and finds out that are rather tenuous, multiple and even overlapping. Moreover, he states that “there are no objective racial group boundary markers”, because racial groups should be understood as “ideas couched in ideologies” concerning the organization of the world, the nature of human diversity and individual’s identity.
