{"id":374810,"date":"2021-01-26T13:50:46","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T16:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=374810"},"modified":"2021-01-26T17:55:03","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T20:55:03","slug":"a-working-class-intellectual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/a-working-class-intellectual\/","title":{"rendered":"A working-class intellectual"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe do not work for European or North American sociologists, except for indirectly and as a contingency of the very nature of scientific work. The true meaning of our contributions to sociology, however modest or grand, can only be achieved when associated with the need to create a new approach to investigating our social reality, digestible and constructive for future generations of Brazilian specialists, who should not inherit the same flaws and limitations as we did.\u201d So wrote sociologist Florestan Fernandes, in his 1956 article \u201cA Sociologia no Brasil\u201d<\/em> [Sociology in Brazil]. One of the most significant Brazilian intellectuals of all time, Fernandes died in 1995; July 22 marks the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of his birth.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorestan refused to bow to foreign authors and constantly questioned what it meant to be a sociologist in a country on the periphery of capitalism,\u201d shares sociologist Elide Rugai Bastos, from the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences at the University of Campinas (IFCH-UNICAMP). A specialist in Fernandes\u2019s work, Bastos is currently putting the finishing touches on a book about the writings of the S\u00e3o Paulo\u2013based intellectual; its working title is A Terceira Margem da Sociologia<\/em> (The third margin of sociology)\u2014a reference to the short story The Third Bank of the River, <\/em>by author Guimar\u00e3es Rosa (1908\u20131967). \u201cFlorestan looked for different answers than those proposed by core countries. Contemporary sociology in peripheral countries is critical of Eurocentrism, but at the time\u2014during the 1940s and 1950s\u2014it was a bold and original view.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Fernandes\u2019s most renowned disciples, former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, agrees. \u201cFlorestan Fernandes knew the distinction between what [Argentine economist Ra\u00fal] Prebisch called core and periphery. He focused on the periphery but knew he must consider the system as a whole, meaning he was profoundly serious in his theoretical views. He was never a small-time sociologist, but rather one without adjectives other than those required by science: he was rigorous in his analyses,\u201d declared Cardoso by email to Pesquisa FAP<\/em>ESP<\/em>. \u201cThroughout my academic career, he taught me that, without a concept or theory, one cannot understand the facts of life. However, having a concept does not exempt the scientist from ‘diving’ into the concrete, the daily life, the relationships between people.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Childhood in Poverty<\/strong>
\nFlorestan Fernandes\u2019s entrance to the academic world was rather unique. Raised by his mother, a Portuguese immigrant who worked as a housekeeper, he began working as a shoeshine and tailor’s apprentice while still a child. At 17, as a waiter at Bar Bidu in downtown S\u00e3o Paulo, he was encouraged by the intellectuals who frequented the establishment to further his studies. He proceeded to enroll in Madureza, a secondary school equivalency program for young adults and adults at the time, which he finished in 1941. That same year he was admitted into the social sciences program at the School of Philosophy, Sciences, and Languages and Literature of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (FFCL-USP). Four years later, he became assistant professor to Fernando de Azevedo (1894\u20131974), chair of Sociology II at the institution, alongside sociologist and future literary critic Antonio Candido (1918\u20132017), with whom he remained close for five decades. Their friendship inspired the play Vicente and Antonio<\/em>, by Oswaldo Mendes, which journalist Florestan Fernandes J\u00fanior, son of the sociologist, intends to stage later this year. \u201cVicente was how my father used to be called by my grandmother’s employers. They thought the name Florestan\u2014a character from Beethoven’s [1770\u20131827] opera Fidelio\u2014did not suit the son of a housekeeper,\u201d shares the journalist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Brazil, the first sociology and social sciences programs were established in 1933,\u201d notes Jacob Lima, president of the Brazilian Society of Sociology. \u201cFlorestan Fernandes’s greatest legacy was his concern for academic discipline in sociology research and training.\u201d Sociologist Maria Arminda do Nascimento Arruda, director of the USP School of Philosophy, Sciences, and Languages and Literature (FFLCH), believes that Florestan Fernandes is required reading when it comes to understanding the development of social sciences, not only at USP, but in Brazil. \u201cIn addition to treating sociology as a science, I believe his greatest innovation was his effort to understand Brazil from the perspective of the people, those excluded from the modernization of Brazil,\u201d states Arruda, a student of his work.<\/p>\n

According to Arruda, this is illustrated by Fernandes\u2019s 1975 book A revolu\u00e7\u00e3o burguesa no Brasil<\/em> (The bourgeois revolution in Brazil), which has just been rereleased as part of the Florestan Fernandes Collection, published by Contracorrente. \u201cIn this era of democracy crisis and obscurantism, it is essential to make his work relevant once again,\u201d defends editor Rafael Valim, who developed the collection along with Florestan Fernandes J\u00fanior. \u201cIn this book, Florestan analyzes Brazil beginning in the colonial period,\u201d notes Bernardo Ricupero, a professor at the Department of Political Science at FFLCH and coordinator of the collection. \u201cFrom the concept of autocracy, he shows that, unlike in France, in Brazil the bourgeois revolution did not break paradigms,\u201d he adds. \u201cOn the contrary: the bourgeoisie aligned itself with old oligarchy leaders and seized power to defend private interests. According to the book, this continues to be the case in the country regardless of political regime.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

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