Affirmative Action Policy and the Racial Quota System

In his monograph concluding his Law degree, the author sought to verify whether the system of racial quotas for admission to higher education courses at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), implemented in 2003, is an effective rule and fulfills its objective while respecting the principles of reasonableness, proportionality and adequacy. Institutional documents were analyzed in order to gather information on the impact of this affirmative action on the university's students. Statistical data from the IBGE and other studies were also interpreted in order to present the current picture of inequality between black and brown-skinned and white-skinned individuals, especially with regard to access to Brazilian public universities. The subject is highly controversial, both in terms of case law and doctrine, and a vast literature review has been carried out in an attempt to differentiate formal equality from material equality, as well as a brief historical overview to demystify the fallacy of equality inaugurated by the liberal revolutions.