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、尤其是巴西贫困状况大幅改善的背景下，本文旨在研判摆脱贫困并被归入‘新中产阶级’的巴西家庭的社会经济特征。本研究借助2008-2009年巴西家庭收支调查（POF/IBGE）中的生活水平指标开展分析，结果发现：与基于平均收入标准得出的预设结论相悖，该社会阶层存在显著异质性，其中多数群体的消费模式与经济脆弱群体乃至绝对贫困群体高度相似。因此，从需结合收入水平以外的额外条件来界定社会阶层的社会学视角来看，将该社会阶层称为‘新中产阶级’属于范畴错误。我们推测，这一结论或将对政策优先级与决策选择产生重要影响。