RACIAL GROUPNESS AND ATTITUDINAL FLUCTUATIONS OF PARDOS BETWEEN SOCIAL AND SYMBOLIC FRONTIERS

In this article, we examine the permeability of racial symbolic boundaries through the identification and analysis of attitudes concerning the following aspects: (1) prejudice; (2) racial mixing, and (3) support for racial quota policies. More specifically, we explore the hypothesis that the positional opinions of pardos , due to their intermediate location in the Brazilian color spectrum, are marked by a fluctuation between the patterns adopted by whites and by blacks. We found an attitudinal convergence between racial groups, with the exception of racial discrimination, in which whites and pardos assume similar patterns. This result suggests that brown individuals are boundary negotiators – whether to distance themselves from blacks, as in the case of racism, or to approach them, as in the case of quotas – in line with the identities and interests implied by their position on the color continuum .