From Colonial Legacy to Neoliberal Reforms: A Comparative Historical Study of Roots and Evolution of Social Inequality in India and Brazil

Abstract

While the sweeping wave of decolonization liberated most former colonies from direct political hegemony and formal economic exploitation, the underlying colonial legacies endured as deep-seated structural scars. These scars perpetuate persistent social inequalities—most notably in Global South countries such as India and Brazil. This essay adopts a longue-durée framework within a global comparative perspective to examine colonial legacies as the structural foundations of economic inequality in India and Brazil. Furthermore, it traces their evolution under the distinct socio-political trajectories in the post-colonial era. The essay also offers a preliminary socio-economic comparison between the two former colonies, focusing on their shared agrarian economy, the developmental trajectories shaped by Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) and the subsequent neoliberal reforms. Based upon this analysis, the essay investigates their convergence and divergence in social-cultural constructs that rationalize persistent social inequalities. It subsequently offers a brief analysis of social inequalities in both regions under globalization. This etic approach conceptualizes inequality as a manifestation of global mechanisms shaped by the intersection of colonial economic structures and the advancing dynamics of global capitalism. Situating within the historiographical trend of ‘grassroots history’, this essay analyzes the origins and intensification of social inequality from a macroeconomic perspective. Simultaneously, it underscores the need for future research to engage more deeply with secondary dynamics of gender and racial inequality in these regions. Such an approach would facilitate a more direct connection between historical discourse and contemporary debates on social justice.