Abstract
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.