Through research that looks at opinion columns published in the major Brazilian press, we analyze the position that the country's social scientists have taken on the issue of the racial quota system that has been implanted in some of its universities. Our main goal is to demonstrate the plurality of opinions embroiled in the controversy, in order to then identify commom lines of argument. Initially, we discuss the validity of two widely-disseminated interpretations of the controversy: the one which sees the polemic as a moment of collision between two antagonistic ideals of justice and another which sees the polemic as a new phase in discordant public sphere images of Brazilian racial reality. Finally, we conclude by suggesting that the discrepancies detected are not based on irreconcilable differences. Rather, the majority of the actors involved mobilize similar bases of justification in order to further their arguments.
Racial Quotas; Intellectuals; Social Scientists; Public Controversy; Press
