Abstract
The first generation of sociologists trained in a Brazilian social sciences course assumed academic positions and started their own research programs in the 1950s. At the heart of the scientific agenda were topics like national identity, the racial question, and economic development. Among other sociologists of that generation, Florestan Fernandes established sociology as a genuine scientific discipline. In doing this, he opposed both the previous tradition of essayism and the political uses of sociological research mainly promoted by Guerreiro Ramos in Rio de Janeiro. During this period, Florestan started the São Paulo School of Sociology, as it is known today.
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Notes
- 1.
This initial amount intended to create a profitable asset in order to enable FAPESP to generate its own profits.
- 2.
It was guaranteed the transfer of 0.5% of the state’s total tax revenue. In 1989 this was increased to 1%.
- 3.
The state of São Paulo has a population of 45 million and generates 32% of Brazilian GDP. FAPESP also has income generated by the financial fruition of its considerable assets. Its primary goal is to support research activities in educational institutions in the state of São Paulo, but it has also been supporting startups with seed money. At the time of writing, about 39% of expenditure is earmarked for advancing knowledge, 8% is dedicated to supporting research infrastructure and 53% allocated to supporting application-driven research. The stability of the funding and the autonomy of the foundation allow for efficient management of the resources, and this has had a sizeable impact. While São Paulo has 16% of the Brazilian population and over 30% of the scientists with a doctorate, the state is responsible for close to half of the country’s scientific articles published in international journals. The foundation of these support institutions was fundamental to every step in research activity in the country, especially for the social sciences, which arguably have fewer sources of funding from the private sector.
- 4.
Purchasing power parity (PPP) is a matrix in exchange rates between two countries that is equal to the ratio of the currencies’ respective purchasing power.
- 5.
As recognition of his prominence in the Brazilian sociology, “Social Scientist Day” is commemorated in Brazil on his birth date, July 22. Besides the many schools with his name, the Library of the Faculty of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences of University of São Paulo—one of the biggest libraries in Latin America—is called Florestan Fernandes Library.
- 6.
For example, Emílio Willems and Romano Barreto edited the journal Sociology; Baldus and Egon Schaden were the editors of both the Journal of the Paulista Museum (from 1947) and the journal Anthropology (from 1953); Caio Prado Jr. (1907–1990) was the editor of Brasiliense, and Paulo Duarte was editor of Anhembi.
- 7.
Univesp (2011) “Brazilian Scientists: Fernando Henrique Cardoso.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDlIFFVXEIc.
- 8.
Although Fernando Novais was a historian, he influenced sociological research with his work on the crisis of the colonial system in Brazil. His Ph.D. dissertation in the 1970s addressed the roots of the ambivalence of Brazilian thought in relation to political practices, that is, the mismatch between thought and its application.
- 9.
Guerreiro Ramos’s books were published both in Portuguese and in English.
- 10.
Maria Isaura organized many seminars and workshops on rural sociology and founded the Center for Rural Studies in 1964. This center still operates, under the name CERU (Center for Rural and Urban Studies) at the University of São Paulo.
- 11.
Rural social movements have always played an important role in Brazil. Although the dictatorship annihilated the Peasant Leagues, rural social movements resurfaced in the 1980s as one of the main collective actors during the democracy restoration process.
- 12.
For example, Maria Isaura’s approach differed from Heleieth Saffioti’s, who was a contemporary with Marxist and structuralist tendencies and who was also supervised by Florestan Fernandes.
- 13.
Her sociological and methodological approach remained alive through the studies of other important sociologists, notably José de Souza Martins, who still is a professor at the University of São Paulo. Also, alike Maria Isaura, José de Souza Martins breaks with the restricted and restrictive view that rural sociology can explain only locale-specific problems. He shows though folk studies how process in the countryside transcends its spatial limitation and may be found in the urban areas too.
- 14.
Umbanda is a synthetic Brazilian religion with elements of Candomblé (an African religion), Catholicism, and Spiritism (also known as Kardecism).
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Domingos Cordeiro, V., Neri, H. (2019). 1950s–1960s: Sociology in a Golden Era of Consolidation. In: Sociology in Brazil. Sociology Transformed. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10439-9_4
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