Inequality is one of the most discussed topics of our times. Yet, we still do not know how to tackle the issue effectively. The book argues that this is due to the lack of understanding the structures responsible for the persistence of social inequality. It enquires into the mechanisms that produce and reproduce invisible dividing lines in society. Based on original case studies of Brazil, Germany, India and Laos comprising thousands of interviews, the authors argue that invisible classes emerge in capitalist societies, both reproducing and transforming precapitalist hierarchies. At the same time, locally particular forms of inequality persist. Social inequality in the contemporary world has to be understood as a specific combination of precapitalist inequalities, capitalist transformation and a particular class structure, which seems to emerge in all capitalist societies. The book links the configurations to an interpretation of global domination as well as to symbolic classification.

Inequality is one of the most discussed topics of our times. Yet, we still do not know how to tackle the issue effectively. The book argues that this is due to the lack of understanding the structures responsible for the persistence of social inequality. It enquires into the mechanisms that produce and reproduce invisible dividing lines in society. Based on original case studies of Brazil, Germany, India and Laos comprising thousands of interviews, the authors argue that invisible classes emerge in capitalist societies, both reproducing and transforming precapitalist hierarchies. At the same time, locally particular forms of inequality persist. Social inequality in the contemporary world has to be understood as a specific combination of precapitalist inequalities, capitalist transformation and a particular class structure, which seems to emerge in all capitalist societies. The book links the configurations to an interpretation of global domination as well as to symbolic classification.

In der Folge von Globalisierungsprozessen und der veranderten Bedeutung von Nationalstaaten wird zunehmend eine transnationale soziale Ungleichheitsforschung gefordert, die gleichzeitig regionenspezifische soziohistorische Besonderheiten berucksichtigt. In diesem Sinne geht es in diesem Buch um eine Zusammenfuhrung interdisziplinarer Beitrage aus historischer, kultur- und religionssoziologischer, sozial- und politikwissenschaftlicher Perspektive, die von fuhrenden und innovativen Wissenschaftlern verfasst wurden, die in verschiedenen Regionen Brasiliens tatig sind. Dadurch wird dem deutschen Leserkreis zum einen eine einmalige Innensicht auf Brasilien geboten, zum anderen wird aufgezeigt, wie eine transnational ausgerichtete gesellschaftswissenschaftliche Perspektive von Themen und Theorien befruchtet werden kann, die nicht aus den europaischen und nordamerikanischen Regionen stammen.

Imagining Brazil provides a comprehensive and multifaceted picture of Brazil in the age of globalization. Privileging diversity in relation to the authors as well as the manner in which Brazil is perceived, JessZ Souza and Valter Sinder have assembled historians, political scientists, sociologists, literary critics, and scholars of culture in an attempt to understand a complex society in all its richness and diversity. Rising from one of the worldOs poorest societies in the 1930s to the eighth largest world economy in the 1980s, Brazil is used as an example of globalizationOs impact on peripheral societies, exploring in new contexts the serious social problems that have always characterized this society. Imagining Brazil explores the connections between society and politics and culture and literature, creating an encompassing volume of interest to scholars of Latin American studies as well as those interested in how globalization impacts the varied aspects of a country.