Inequalities

Journal of Critical Inequality Studies

Racial/Colonial Capitalism in the Epistemology of Social Security Law: Inequality Patterns in Contributory Benefits in Brazil

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Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between Social Security Law's epistemology and the racial/colonial capitalist logic in Brazil. The main objective is to reveal the inequalities caused by colonial patterns on the access and values of contributory benefits for Black workers in Brazil, to demonstrate epistemic racism in Social Security Law. This analysis will be carried out within the framework of Latin American decolonial theory. Methodologically, a qualitative analysis of access criteria and values of contributory benefits is carried out based mainly on data from Brazilian public pension funds to compare social rights of White and Black workers in the General Social Security System. Subsequently, in a propositional stage, decoloniality is used to understand how other temporalities/values can be legally recognized as work by Social Security's epistemology as a way of pluralizing the social protection towards Black workers in Brazil.


open access | peer reviewed

Presentato: 07 Gennaio 2026 | Accettato: 08 Marzo 2026 | Pubblicato 21 Maggio 2026 | Lingua: en

Keywords Black workersEpistemic RacismBrasilContributory BenefitsColoniality of PowerGeneral Social Security System