Special report | The economy
A dream deferred
After a generation of progress, social mobility is slowing in Brazil
VINICIUS RABELO’S grandparents were manioc farmers in the interior of Bahia. His parents moved to the city for a better life and, after opening a clothes shop, sent their children to private school. In 2018 Mr Rabelo started as an electrical mechanic in Camaçari, near the state capital, Salvador. Home to a petrochemical plant and a Ford factory, Camaçari had almost doubled in population over his lifetime. More than 40m Brazilians had joined an emerging middle class known as Classe C.
This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline “A dream deferred”
From the June 5th 2021 edition
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