Strategies of Brazilian Elite Domination

In order to maintain their dominant socio-economic and political positions, Brazilian elites developed and employed a range of strategies in order to maintain the basic inequality regime established during the colonial period. Still among the most unequal countries in the world by Gini Coefficient, this paper seeks to show how Brazilian elites maintained their position of relative dominance through superstructural and material transformations in Brazilian society in terms of their collectively finding solutions to four problems: the Ideology of Creole Revolution, Unmanaged Elite Competition, Race Relations, and Democracy. As the latter three remain serious problems for Brazilian elites, the way previous elites navigated these threats to their position and maintained the basic nature of the inequality regime through transformations in the material base and superstructure provide insights into how Bolsonaro and contemporary conservative elites may attempt to manage the social democratic forces of the PT.