Racial social norms among Brazilian students: Academic performance, popularity, and racial identification

Autor(es)

Portella, Alysson ; Kirschbaum, Charles ; Menezes-Filho, Naercio

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; v. 119, n. 27, p. 7-pg., 2022-07-05.

Resumo

Studies in the United States have shown that minority students might face a trade-off between better academic performance and peer acceptance, which has been termed "acting White." This paper investigates racial differences in the relationship between grades and popularity in five Brazilian schools. Popularity is measured using friendship ties among students, assigning a higher value to students more central in the network. The racial composition of friendship ties is generally diverse, although they tend to favor racial peers, especially among Black students. We find a positive correlation between grades and popularity of non-White students that is driven by their friendships with their White classmates. This contrasts with patterns associated with acting White, where a negative correlation between minorities' grades and their popularity among racial peers is not compensated by their status among White students. We also investigate how academic performance is associated with racial identity choice conditional on skin color, finding a weak negative relationship between higher grades and the odds of classification as mixed race. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 13/07616-7 - CEM - Centro de Estudos da Metrópole
• Beneficiário: Eduardo Cesar Leão Marques
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Centros de Pesquisa, Inovação e Difusão - CEPIDs
• Processo FAPESP: 19/12553-0 - Centro Brasileiro para o Desenvolvimento na Primeira Infância
• Beneficiário: Naercio Aquino Menezes Filho
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa Centros de Pesquisa em Engenharia