COR E RAÇA: ORIGENS RELIGIOSAS DO DEBATE - ROGER BASTIDE E TALCOTT PARSONS

Abstract

Such as it has taken place in Brazil, or about Brazil, the debate about the use of the categories color and race is linked to ideological choices which stress, in the case of color, the notions of tradition, gradation and hierarchy, associated to a philocatholic interpretation of Brazilian history, represented by Gilberto Freyre and, largely under his influence, by Roger Bastide, but also with surprising echoes in Marvin Harris¿s theories. Those who stress the use of race tend to adopt simple dichotomic oppositions and to add urgency to the fight for human rights in marked opposition to the theories of branqueamento (whitening) through an indefinite number of generations. The two stands are well represented in the articles commented upon in this paper, the first by Roger Bastide who, in spite of his Protestant origin, represents the philocatholic position, and, on the other hand, by Talcott Parsons, who stresses the influence of the Protestant ethic leading to progress and democracy (as it abolishes, among other, the distinction between laity and priesthood) and to the ultimate extinction of inequality and discrimination.