ON THE WINGS OF SOCIAL PROGRESS: THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF POSITIVISM TO THE BRAZILIAN LEFT

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to investigate the social perspectives of positivism that are re-signified in the industrial progress of Brazil throughout the 20th century, since they were supplanted in the pre-capitalist context of the late 19th century. These are prerogatives that characterize the inclusive character of the left in substantially inserting the peripheral segments and which, despite the strong functionalism, suffered resistance from the Brazilian ruling classes, due to their slave culture based on a parasitic capitalism that only increases inequality. The positivist contributions that will be examined are the racial issue, laborism, which derive directly from Auguste Comte's social thought, and social-developmentalism, which had a more indirect impact. Based on these investigations, it is expected to verify that positivism reinforced the left reformist perspective.