"Eu acredito que aqui ninguém faz esse tipo de coisa, aqui a gente é muito bem tratado": um estudo sobre a percepção do racismo entre usuários e usuárias do Sistema de Justiça na cidade de Salvador, Bahia"

Abstract

This study aims at comparing the beliefs of people with different racial features, who are assisted by an institution of the Justice System in the city of Salvador/Bahia, regarding the perception of racial discrimination and the influence of the Belief in a Just World theory on the legitimization of institutional racism. The Public Ministry, the institution responsible for upholding the democratic rule of law and committed to defending the most vulnerable populations, routinely perpetuates racist practices that lead to injustices and disadvantages for the Black community. The Belief in a Just World theory has proven to be a powerful psychological variable for legitimizing the system and social apathy. Similarly, institutional trust has emerged as an important construct for understanding the mechanisms for maitaining hierarchies in unequal societies like Brazil. In this sense, I chose to investigate how costumers of the Public Ministry of the State of Bahia perceive racial discrimination in the institution through an integrative perspective of Social Psychology theories. A total of 98 people who had been served by the institution at least once took part in this research. In general, the results showed that the participants had a low perception of racial discrimination within the institution. Furthermore, the analyses demonstrate that there was no significant difference in the perception of discrimination among black, mixed-race, and white participants. A multiple linear regression model showed that the variables "overall service quality," "elementary education", and "woman" can predict the perception of discrimination. I also identified that people with a strong belief in a “personal just world” perceived less discrimination against the Black community, while the “trust in the Public Ministry” was influenced by the “belief in a global just world”. I did not identify any influence of the “belief in a just world” on the relationship between satisfaction with the service and the perception of discrimination, as it was predicted. In general, the analyses demonstrated that the quality of customer service proved to be a powerful variable for the perception of institutional racism within the Public Ministry. The overall findings of this study reaffirm the complexity of the manifestation of racism, especially in institutions that advocate for egalitarian, democratic and anti-discriminatory principles. Therefore, I can infer that the good costumer service, when combined with other legitimizing beliefs, without the adoption of an anti-racist institutional policy that promotes profound changes in the organizational culture, will function as yet another mechanism of social docilization.