Anatomy of “Social” Expertise Today: Historical Displacements of the Sciences at the Service of Brazilian Philanthropy (1995-2022)

Since 2008, the emergence of a political presence at the national level on the part of the large Brazilian foundations has been striking. However, few studies have been devoted to professional groups and specialized knowledge that shape philanthropic action. Thus, this presentation shall analyze models of knowledge at the service of Brazilian philanthropy. To this end, it is used a Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) on a database (n=480) made up of actors from foundations and their research centers and companies. In doing so, it is possible to distinguish two poles of power: experts in applied microeconomics who, through academic research and political consultation, identify public problems, on the one hand; and consultant-engineers who adapt management techniques to the search for large-scale impact, on the other hand. In both cases, these experts materialize the ideal of the “social” as the Other of the “economic”, in line with “non-profit” philanthropic claims.

Furthermore, these new “social” experts marginalize the sciences that were engaged in the advent of modern philanthropy in Brazil from the 1990s onwards. Previously, political anthropology and public health were models of knowledge engaged in the modernization of Brazilian philanthropy in order to strengthen the “organized civil society” through “community-level projects”, in the wake of social criticism of the centralization of technocratic power during the civil-military dictatorship (1964-1985). These models of knowledge were also financed by an ascendant economic elite at that time, who sought to differentiate themselves from the “conservatism” and “corporatism” of the previous generation. However, a new generation of Brazilian foundations, linked to large banks and investment funds, tend to increasingly disqualify this first model of philanthropy focused on local projects. Hence, it is precisely this new generation that today will invest in actions with “impact” and “scale” through the knowledge of applied microeconomics and consultant-engineers.