Atualidade de Raymundo Faoro

Simon Schwartzman

doi:10.1590/s0011-52582003000200001

Abstract

Raymundo Faoro, deceased in 2003, was one of the pioneers in the use of Max Weber's sociology for interpreting the formation of the Brazilian political system. In Os Donos do Poder (The Owners of Power), first published in 1958, Faoro launched the thesis that ever since its colonial period Brazil has always been dominated by a ''bureaucratic stratum'' with its origins in the peculiar characteristics of the Portuguese state, thus contradicting the previously dominant view that Brazil had experienced a feudal past dominated by traditional rural power. He thus opened the way for the Brazilian political system to be studied and interpreted in terms of its own political and institutional variables and no longer merely in terms of class interests and conflicts. However, according to Faoro, this domination by the bureaucratic stratum was a perennial, immutable characteristic of Brazil, a view that ended up limiting his analyses, even as he became an activist against all forms of Brazilian authoritarianism.

Highlights

Raymundo Faoro, deceased in 2003, was one of the pioneers in the use of Max Weber’s sociology for interpreting the formation of the Brazilian political system
In Os Donos do Poder (The Owners of Power), first published in 1958, Faoro launched the thesis that ever since its colonial period Brazil has always been dominated by a “bureaucratic stratum” with its origins in the peculiar characteristics of the Portuguese state, contradicting the previously dominant view that Brazil had experienced a feudal past dominated by traditional rural power
He opened the way for the Brazilian political system to be studied and interpreted in terms of its own political and institutional variables and no longer merely in terms of class interests and conflicts

Summary

Introduction

Raymundo Faoro, deceased in 2003, was one of the pioneers in the use of Max Weber’s sociology for interpreting the formation of the Brazilian political system. Raymundo Faoro não foi o primeiro, no Brasil, a fazer uso dos conceitos de Max Weber, mas a publicação de Os Donos do Poder, pela Editora Globo, de Porto Alegre, em 1958, teve uma influência que seus antecessores não tiveram.

Results

Conclusion