The goal of this article is to deepen the knowledge on cross-sector partnerships that are articulated among the State, the market, and civil society, taking as the main focus the argumentative analysis of one case, Geração XXI, the first affirmative action program for black youngsters in Brazil. This paper uses argumentation theory, mainly Haberma's communicative action theory to evaluate the validity of the discourses used by the different partners and the capacity of the latter to create "dialogic situations" that seek possible solutions through argumentative means. The paper is based on qualitative research that combined participant observation with semi-structured interviews. It is concluded that despite the program having been well managed from an instrumental rationality point of view, pitfalls in the construction of a shared meaning acceptable by all the collaborators of key concepts such as affirmative action, diversity-management, and corporate social responsibility, as well in the communication procedures institutionalized, affected the processes and final results of the program negatively.
Affirmative action; Afro-descendants; Cross-sector partnerships; Communicative action; Argumentative analysis