The reception of German Sociology in Brazil

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Abstract

The article seeks to demonstrate that German sociology penetrated Brazil during the 1940s-1960s, contrary to the prevailing belief that this field made its way into the country solely as a successful marriage of French theory and US empirical methods. Sociological thought was in fact introduced via two paths. The first was a direct one, linked to Emilio Willems’ work in the revista Sociologia.It was essentially a reading of the concepts and ideas defended by sociologists from the Berlin Circle — including Simmels and Sombart, typical representatives of a view of society grounded on relations and interactions between individuals. The second, indirect route was “sponsored” by English or US authors. It corresponds to the phase when sociologists identified themselves as agents of social change and posited the ideals of modernity as tasks of sociology. In the construction of the “good society”, reference to Hans Freyer, Kurt Mannheim, and Max Weber is vital.