"Brazil cannot stop": Meritocratic ideology in an unequal country. (8th December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mesquita, Juliana Schneider; Bezerra, Marcos Sales
• Is Part Of: Gender work and organization. Volume 28(2021)Supplement 2
• Page Start: 446
• Page End: 460
• Publication Date: 2020-12-08
• Subjects: COVID‐19 -- education -- institutional racism -- meritocratic ideology -- structural racism; Sex role in the work environment -- Periodicals; Sexual division of labor -- Periodicals; Sex discrimination in employment -- Periodicals; Organizational sociology -- Periodicals; Industries -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 306.361505
• DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12589
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0968-6673

Abstract

Abstract: This essay reflects on the measures adopted by the Brazilian government in the scope of education amid the COVID‐19 pandemic. This reflection is necessary for the field of organizational studies, as such administrative actions in view of the pandemic can interfere directly in the formation of young Brazilians and their allocation in different positions in the labor market. One must think critically about the impacts that exclusionary, low‐quality education can have on the exclusion of certain groups and their precarious access to job opportunities. We believe that the measures adopted by the Brazilian government reflect the society's structural racism and that institutional racism practiced by the Ministry of Education and Culture. Government actions based on meritocratic discourses during a pandemic contribute to the maintenance of group privileges and dominance, the marginalization of subordinated groups, and the aggravation of social and racial inequalities.