ABSTRACT
The case of affirmative action in higher education in Brazil is examined in this entry. As a part of a larger shift across Latin America emphasizing education as key for combating inequality, Brazil has begun targeting both racial as well as class disadvantage through the institutionalization of race and class quotas. We explore how issues of race and class exclusion gained traction in public policy in that context. We then offer an overview of three different criteria these new quota policies use to target disadvantage: race only, class only, and a combination of race and class. Lastly, we review the latest Brazilian Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action as well as a new federal policy, the Law of Social Quotas, which expands affirmative action to all federal universities. Both bode well for the continued adoption of race- and class-targeted affirmative action for the decade to come in Brazil.
