Racial inequality in intergenerational transmission of social class inheritance

Abstract

The study addresses racial discrepancies manifested in intergenerational transmission of advantages and disadvantages of social class origin. It focuses on racial inequality conditional on class origin. Class origin was measured using a neo-Marxist class typology. Social destination was conceived as life chances and measured by children’s income. Predicted averages and proportional differences were estimated through a Generalized Linear Model and social mobility data retrieved from PNAD 2014. Racial inequality in transmission of class inheritance is striking in Brazil at the aggregate level of cohorts. Generally, racial discrepancies in both total effect and direct effect of class origin have remained in most circumstances. In class origins of greater demographic weight, in the cohorts aggregate, an empirical association between higher education and less racial discrepancy in the transmission of class inheritance is not certain. However, in the most recent cohort, particularly in the privileged and destitute origins, racial distance is uncertain, which may reflect processes of selectivity rather than equalization.

Keywords
social mobility; origin and destination; class and race; racial inequality