Glauco Arbix President, Institute for Applied Economic Research – IPEA Professor of Sociology - University of São Paulo - BRAZIL Brussels, December 2005 Brazilian Social Sciences: Between the Past and the Future

The Social Sciences in Brazil The Social Sciences in Brazil The social sciences advance:  Growing body of highly qualified professionals with Master’s Degrees and Phds.  Sharp increase in the number of publications in indexed periodicals  New thematic areas:  functioning of institutions  the electoral process and the political system  international relations  crime and violence  technology and innovation  regional issues  drug trafficking and corruption  local participatory democracy  A more complex, diversified and plural scientific community

Research groups in humanities in social science sub-areas

Professionalization of the social sciences The social sciences changed with the creation of postgraduate courses in the 1970s. International exchanges were a decisive factor.  Professionalization of the social sciences with the introduction of new methodologies, and frontier debates  Close relations with the United States and Europe made a deep impact on the level of social sciences in Brazil

Trajectory  In the mid-1970s the emphasis switched to themes related to the reactivation of civil society, social movements, and redemocratization  The mid-80s to the mid-90s witnessed a boom in analyses of the identities and social representations of urban, rural, trade union, gender, black and ecological movements  This fragmentation has been followed by a sharp dissociation between the social question and the country´s macrostrutural conditions

Weaknesses  An often stratified and hierarchical pattern of international cooperation  Imposition of themes from a foreign institutional agenda  Brazilian researchers are restricted to providing data for the development of far-reaching theories by social scientists in developed countries Consequence: dependence and provincialism  A descriptive, historiographic or even journalistic stance  Analytical nationalism

 Stimulate the qualitative improvement of institutions and researchers  Perfect performance assessment systems  Extend the use of frontier methodologies  Adopt a cosmopolitan and open stance  Increase synergies with international research networks The search for The search for socially relevant and integrating themes The Social Sciences in Brazil have reached a level of maturity which enables a positive redrawing of its identity to be made. To achieve this it is necessary to concentrate on socially relevant and integrating themes.

To support exploratory research on:  Sustainable growth and employment  Poverty and inequality  Technological innovation and competitiveness  Efficiency of the government To address the country’s structural issues the Brazilian social sciences have to dialogue and work together with the most Important universities and research centers in the world What must be done

Brazil’s social sciences are being invited to transcend their limits The social scientist should be guided by a sense of responsibility towards society. This means, respect for citizenship, the quest for social justice and reduction of inequalities. And, clearly, acting with the dignity given by the independence and commitment needed to produce new knowledge.

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