Abstract
In this paper, we argue that evaluations of university quotas must incorporate the concept of social recognition. Indeed, even if affirmative action in public universities for students from public schools and non-whites has become a phenomenon of great visibility, we still have much to advance in the interpretation of its actual effects. Thus, we propose to discuss the changes introduced by these policies into everyday life in the Federal University of Sergipe, giving priority to self-perception of quota students and to the interactions established by them with other students and with teachers. For this purpose, we used a methodology that combines qualitative (focus groups) and quantitative (survey) methods. The main research results point out increased self-esteem of these students and, at the same time, the existence, for economic and class reasons, of tensions between them and the non-quota students, and especially between them and teachers of the most prestigious courses.
Affirmative action; University quotas; Evaluation; Recognition