The Elusive New Middle Class in Brazil

Against the background of the generalized reduction of poverty in the world, and particularly in Brazil, this article intends to gauge the socio-economic profile of Brazilian households that emerged from poverty and have been identified as integrating a "new middle class". Using indicators of standards of living from the 2008-2009 Survey on Family Budgets (POF/IBGE), we found out that, in contrast to what has been assumed on the basis of average income criteria, this social stratum is markedly heterogeneous, most of it being similar in their consumption patterns to the economically vulnerable or outright poor strata. So, we conclude that, from a sociological perspective that demands additional conditions besides income levels to identify social classes, it is a category mistake to call this social stratum a new middle class. We conjecture that this may be consequential in terms of policy priorities and choices.

在全球贫困普遍缓解的背景下，尤其是在巴西，本文旨在刻画已脱离贫困并被归入“新中产阶级”的巴西家庭的社会经济画像。借助2008-2009年家庭支出调查（POF/IBGE）的生活水平指标，研究发现：与基于平均收入标准的既有假设相悖，该社会阶层呈现显著异质性，其中多数群体的消费模式与经济脆弱群体或绝对贫困阶层高度相似。因此，从社会阶级识别需纳入收入水平以外额外条件的社会学视角来看，将该社会阶层定义为新中产阶级属于范畴错误。我们推测，这一结论对于政策优先级设定与政策选择具有重要意义。