Roberto Véras de Oliveira is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB), Brazil. He holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of São Paulo (USP) and was a visiting scholar in the Institute for Research on Labor and Development at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Professor Véras de Oliveira is also a researcher of the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), with a productivity grant from the same institution.