Social Sciences in Brazil: From a Broad Interdisciplinarity to a Restricted Interdisciplinarity

Abstract

In this work, we will analyze how the transition from an expanded conception of social sciences to a more restricted notion of social sciences, centered on the disciplines of anthropology, political science, and sociology, took place in Brazil. In the first part of this article, we will contextualize the creation process of the first undergraduate courses of social sciences in Brazil in the 1930s, as well as their transformations over time; in the second part, we will carry out an analysis of the social sciences programs existing in Brazil, starting from the courses that are currently in operation and grant master’s and/or doctoral degrees in this area. Finally, we demonstrate how the creation of the national graduate system between the 1960s and 1970s was essential to consolidate this institutional arrangement and the creation of the National Association for Research and Graduate Studies in Social Sciences in the 1970s.