Social Movements, Culture, and Politics in the Work of Brazilian Sociologists

Abstract

When Brazilian society returned to democracy in the 1970s, social movements demanding recognition of basic social and political rights became the focus of sociological research. This research was informed both by the social context and by interdisciplinary theories that gave analytic centrality to social and political actors. It broadened the horizons of sociological interpretation to include political activities outside the established institutions and the collective representations that shape public actions and produced new ideas about conflict and the behavior of those involved in it.