Equality as antisubordination: a re-theorization of the principle from the Brazilian constitutional jurisprudence

• Grant number: 22/04851-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: December 01, 2022
• End date: August 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Law - Public Law
• Principal Investigator: Dimitrios Dimoulis
• Grantee: Taís Sofia Cunha de Barros Penteado
• Host Institution: Escola de Direito de São Paulo. Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/02992-2 - Re-theorizing antisubordination, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

The legal principle of antisubordination, as formulated by specialized doctrine and adopted in some cases ruled by the Brazilian Supreme Court ("STF"), is the postulate that norms or measures that create or perpetuate social hierarchies violate equality. In preliminary research, we realized that the postulate's focus on the results of norms or measures is limited, insofar as it fails to capture countless other ways in which social hierarchies permeate the law. In view of this deficiency, the present project aims to re-theorize the principle, based on the analysis of Brazilian constitutional jurisprudence on equality. Our preliminary hypothesis is that a principle truly capable of keeping alive the promise of dismantling social hierarchies must be formulated as a framework capable of offering a lens for the identification of problems and a guide to their resolution, without restraining itself to a postulate. The research has a double objective: first, we aim to analyze cases judged by the STF from our preliminary re-theorization (anti-subordination as a framework). Next, we will confront our preliminary re-theorization, based on insights inferred from the observation of Brazilian jurisprudence, generating inductive and empirically informed knowledge.