The Contemporary Relevance of Florestan Fernandes

Abstract

Among studies of Brazilian social thought, a substantial subset has been dedicated to analysing the sociological contribution of Florestan Fernandes (1920Fernandes ( -1995. The auspicious critical fortune of diverse aspects of his trajectory can be detected across a wide range of analyses. These aspects can be summarized as:an exploration of the biographical factors that predisposed him to pursue an innovative analytic project, distinct from other approaches prevalent at the time, lending an exceptional singularity to his work; a decisive role in the expansion and modernization of the social sciences in Brazil and Latin America vis-à-vis other experiences; his rigorous application of the principles of the scientific method and, conversely, the prominent role of the university institution in shaping his ideas; a selective dialogue with the intellectual tradition considered in light of the author's creative assimilation of the dominant theories; the importance of his work in terms of creating the emergent academic style and profession of the social scientist; a pioneering development of collectively articulated research projects; the construction of new institutions and procedures in a still restricted university environment; a body of work that provides an innovative sociological contribution to our understanding of Brazil's modernization processes; the influence of his political positions, from the outset, on the selection and problematization of research objects and approaches to the same; an articulation between his research agendas and urgent social

O legado de Florestan Fernandes a partir de uma revisão bibliométrica (2000-2022)

“…Disponível em <http://www.revistas2.uepg.br/index.php/emancipacao> Nos clusters de autores individuais, destaca-se, com cinco artigos, a pesquisadora da USP Maria Arminda do Nascimento Arruda. Um de seus artigos discute a atualidade e a singularidade das obras de Florestan Fernandes para a compreensão do pensamento social brasileiro, por ser um meticuloso cientista desbravador do ambiente universitário e das pesquisas sociológicas, naquela época, ainda fechado no Brasil (Arruda, 2018). Também, em autoria individual, percebe-se a presença do historiador da educação José Luís Sanfelice, então ligado à Unicamp, cuja publicação reconstrói a conferência inaugural proferida por Florestan Fernandes no I Fórum de Professores, que tratou sobre a política educacional do governo em 1968, em contraponto à reforma universitária na vigência da ditadura civil-militar iniciada em 1964 (Sanfelice, 2008).…”

Crisis in the Periphery: The Concept of “Crisis” in Latin American Developmentalism and Raúl Prebisch, 1929-1980s

“…Mostly dedicated to commercial activities focusing on the domestic capitalist market, they were however incapable of disentangling themselves from the logics of the past. Thus, Brazilian bourgeoisie never achieved autonomy from the oligarchy, but rather merged with retrograde social forces and failed to implement liberal democracy (Arruda, 2018). Thus, in contrast to its European counterparts, the Brazilian bourgeoisie was not a fundamental agent of capitalist transformation and modernization.…”