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Naming Brazil's Previously Poor: “New Middle Class” As An Economic, Political, And Experiential Category, Charles H. Klein, Sean T. Mitchell, Benjamin Junge

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The early years of the 21st century were historic for socioeconomic relations in Brazil. While long known for stark socioeconomic inequality, the nation became internationally celebrated for its economic growth and successful poverty-reduction initiatives, which together propelled some 35 million “previously poor” Brazilians into what became called a “new middle class.” The apparent rise of this “new” class has generated contentious debates and a range of social science studies in Brazil; yet this literature is little known in the Anglophone academic world. While some have interpreted this demographic transformation as an expansion of the existing middle class, others have questioned …