Alguém merece ser pobre?: análise sobre o preconceito contra pobres no Brasil

Abstract

Prejudice against poor people contributes to the maintenance of social inequalities. It is therefore relevant to investigate different manifestations, from the perspective of aporophobia, ambivalent classism, or studies that explore the topic through different theoretical approaches in Social Psychology, such as Social Representations Theory (SRT), System Justification Theory (SJT), Social Identity Theory (SIT), the Stereotype Content Model (SCM), and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). Based on these assumptions, the present thesis aims to investigate how prejudice against poor people manifests itself across different social contexts in Brazil. Chapter 1, “Theoretical levels of analysis and empirical articulations,” presented and discussed the theoretical models used throughout the thesis, articulating different Social Psychology theories to the understanding of classism, based on the intraindividual, interindividual, positional, and ideological levels of analysis. Chapter 2, “The vagrancy law and the criminalization of poverty,” analyzed, from the perspective of SRT, legislative bills proposing the repeal of the so-called “Vagrancy Law,” examining their texts and legislative processes. The results indicated that polarization around the issue is essential to promote change. Chapter 3, “Father Júlio and prejudice against the poor: an analysis of aporophobia on social media,” examined how aporophobia manifests through comments on the platform “X” directed at Father Júlio Lancellotti, as a personification of the objectification of poverty and poor people. Content analysis, grounded in SRT, revealed processes of simplification of reality that naturalize poverty, as well as anchoring processes that reinforce social roles related to politics, religion, and the economy/work. Chapter 4, “From Meireles to Bom Jardim: social representations of the poor and poverty in the city of Fortaleza, Ceará,” presents social representations of poverty and poor people among citizens from different social classes in Fortaleza, Ceará. Based on lexical analysis of 47 semi-structured interviews, the results indicate ambivalences in participants’ discourse, as well as associations between social representations and understandings of how the social system operates, social identities, and stereotypes about different “types of poor people,” articulated with SJT, SIT, and SCM. Finally, Chapter 5, “Validation of the Ambivalent Classism Inventory in Brazil,” presents the adaptation and validation of the Ambivalent Classism Inventory (ACI) for the Brazilian context. Using responses from 438 participants, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, indicating a better fit to a three-factor model, convergent validity analyses showed results largely similar to those of the original study conducted in the United States, and predictive validity analyses indicated that the dimensions of classism were significant predictors of support for public policies. Thus, this thesis inaugurates a line of research on classism within Brazilian Social Psychology, integrating different levels of analysis to understand how prejudice against poor people manifests and contributes to the maintenance of poverty.