Papers by Elisa Klüger
Cepal Review, 2022
This paper aims to reconstruct the history of the partnership between the Economic Commission for... more This paper aims to reconstruct the history of the partnership between the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) and Brazil's National Bank for Economic Development (BNDE). The ECLA/BNDE Economic Development Centre, which operated in Rio de Janeiro between 1960 and 1967, held courses on Problems of Economic Development in several regions of the country, training a generation of development planning specialists who worked to overcome underdevelopment. The Centre also functioned as a gateway to ECLA ideas and writings in Brazil and as a locus of knowledge production in the area of economic development. It thus impacted both the governmental sphere and the academic world, providing an alternative to predominantly neoclassical economics courses. Drawing on a combination of documents, newspaper articles and the testimony of former members of the Centre, this article describes its activities and retraces the events leading to its creation, expansion and closure.
Revista do Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros, 2021
This article reconstructs Celso Furtado’s trajectory until the beginning of the 1960s and analyze... more This article reconstructs Celso Furtado’s trajectory until the beginning of the 1960s and analyzes writings in which he defines the conception of economic science that guides his activities in an underdeveloped country. Furtado maintains that the economy is not neutral and universal, emphasizing the need to produce a historically situated knowledge and to outline collectively the goals of economic intervention. It is argued that the economic science professed by Furtado is iconoclastic, breaking with the neoclassical paradigms, and nonconformist, aiming at the transformation of social reality.
Revista Estudos Avançados, 2020
This essay discusses the affinity between Celso Furtado’s literary practice
and his analytical pe... more This essay discusses the affinity between Celso Furtado’s literary practice
and his analytical perspective as an economist. As his autobiography, diaries, and interviews reveal, his passion and flirtations with literature were recurrent and important in his trajectory. It is possible to argue that Furtado’s proximity to literature contributed to making him an economist sentient both to narratives inhabited by individuals who in no way resemble the homo oeconomicus of neoclassical economic theory and to scenarios
shaped by social, cultural, and power structures that frame the actions of those individuals. This essay focuses on the project of a novel outlined by Celso Furtado in 1955, and recorded in his Diários intermitentes 1937-2002 (2019). The text is examined as a privileged viewpoint to apprehend the sociological imagination and the historically and culturally-rooted interpretation of Brazilian economy and society that made Celso
Furtado an inexorably heterodox economist.
Tempo Social, 2019
Entrevista com Marie France Garcia-Parpet
DADOS – Revista de Ciências Sociais
This article examines two contrasting access paths of access to the ruling elite, by Mario Henriq... more This article examines two contrasting access paths of access to the ruling elite, by Mario Henrique Simonsen and Antonio Delfim Netto, by comparing their social origins and performances in academia and politics. This approach allows us to observe a transition between a model of access to power based on the combination of privileged social origin, cultural assets, cosmopolitanism and family ties; and a model in which technical specialization and professional ties are the key factors. Simonsen and Delfim performed similar functions in the consolidation of the science of economics in Brazil, both were central in shaping graduate education in economics and in the incorporation of mathematical tools to teaching and research. They then moved to the Federal Government, carrying with them their students and the ability to use technical arguments to legitimize their political decisions. The article argues that, despite the similarity in their professional achievements, they exercised power in disparate ways, a fact that can be explained by their different social origins and paths of access to the ruling elite.
Multiple Correspondence Analysis; Pierre Bourdieu; Magnetic Field; Geometry; Gravity., 2018
Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was popularized in Social Sciences by Pierre Bourdieu and ... more Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was popularized in Social Sciences by Pierre Bourdieu and his followers. The technique was privileged by them since it allows representing the social space relationally, while creating, in Cartesian planes, clouds in which agents are positioned relative to each other according to their social properties; and clouds of social properties in which categories appear closer and more frequently when associated with the same agents. Thus, the representation created by the MCA allows detecting the structure of polarizations of social spaces, which helps understanding the resulting social dynamics. The goal of this article is to present fundaments, basic elements and procedures to elaborate MCAs. Thereby, we intend to subsidize the reading of studies that use MCAs and, perhaps, to help researchers intending to use the technique in their work.
Historical Social Research, 2018
During the 1990s and the 2000s, large inflections in the policies conducted by the Brazilian Nati... more During the 1990s and the 2000s, large inflections in the policies conducted by the Brazilian National Economic and Social Development Bank (BNDES) took place. Administrations went back and forth between a neoliberal perspective that recommended privatization and reduction of the state interference in the economy (1990-2002 and 2016-2017), and a model in which planning and governmental investment were welcomed (1993 and 2003- 2016). Following an introduction into the Bank’s history, its policies will be described, emphasizing the large shifts in discourses and policies, resulting from the changes in government and consequently in the profile of board members of the Bank. In a next step, the institution is reconstructed as a social space and a social network using data on trajectories of and ties between presidents and directors of the Bank. The combination of these different analytical instruments allows to verify if the cleavages observed in each representation are similar, and thus to evaluate if the relative positions of the administrations are modified when considering not only the social properties of agents but also their interactions. In the conclusion, comments are made on the possibilities offered by each method and on the complementarity of the two relational perspectives.
Studies focusing on international circulation consider the movement of elites towards central cou... more Studies focusing on international circulation consider the movement of elites towards central countries as strategies of distinction and acquisition of cosmopolitan assets. In order to study the effects of the circulation of elites through peripheral countries, this article examines the case of intellectuals from the Brazilian left who went into exile in Chile after the 1964 military coup. The latter are characterized socially and placed within a network delineating the structure of the polarities in the social space to which they belong. Lastly, the repositioning of this group in Brazil when the country was undergoing a democratization process is analyzed to shed light on the impact which the use of the capital, knowledge, and ties acquired abroad had on the restructuration of the intellectual space.
is article presents a methodological contribution to the eld of sociology of elites based on th... more is article presents a methodological contribution to the eld of sociology of elites based on the conjugated use of social networks and geometric social spaces, generated using multiple cor- respondence analysis. A er discussing how these methods can be associated, it depicts research works that place social properties on networks or draw networks on social spaces. Finally, it is shown how methodological conjugation can contribute to the eld of sociology of elites by o ering a way to test if there is a greater probability of approximation between those who have convergent habitus, to operationalize social capital and to comprehend – in a structural and relational perspective – processes of cooptation and colligation of members of dominant fractions trough marriages, clubs, choice of successors and professional and political alliances. Keywords: Elites; Networks; Multiple correspondence analysis.
Based on the analysis of three examples of relations between fractions of the Brazilian elite an... more Based on the analysis of three examples of relations between fractions of the Brazilian elite and the international space in three periods, the text presents the variations of meanings, strategies and modalities of their internationalization. The relation of cultural dependency of the periphery elites vis>à>vis the center will be the center object of analysis. To accumulate cosmopolitan trumps – which allow them to take part at the international division of the labor of domination and to distinguish themselves nationally – these elites incorporate the knowledge and the culture that are dominant at international level. The chosen examples show that, with time, the form of transmission of cosmopolitan capitals is modified and that new social groups gain access to the international space. Nevertheless, there is an invariant element: the use of cosmopolitan capital in the games played inside the national states.
Keywords: cosmopolitan capital; Brazilian elites; center>periphery relation.
Resumo: Com o objetivo de oferecer esclarecimentos acerca das condições sociais de produção das t... more Resumo: Com o objetivo de oferecer esclarecimentos acerca das condições sociais de produção das tomadas de posição de especialistas em economia no governo, será analisada a relação entre os perfis e as trajetórias de diretores que o Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) e os discursos por eles sustentados nos relatórios administrativos da instituição. A partir do exame dos dados sobre as trajetórias, recolhidos em entrevistas com os diretores, é possível delinear sua distribuição espaço social e avaliar se as polarizações que nele se apresentam coincidem com as oposições de seus discursos no governo, o que ofereceria evidências convergentes com a hipótese de que existiriam correspondências entre as posições sociais e as tomadas de posição dos indivíduos.
Esse trabalho pretende fazer uso das contribuições teóricas da Sociologia Econômica para tent... more Esse trabalho pretende fazer uso das contribuições teóricas da Sociologia Econômica para tentar desvendar quais os motivos “irracionais” que fazem com que, no consumo de bens culturais, alguns agentes econômicos não optem pela aquisição de artigos piratas, mesmo quando eles estão naquele que seria o ponto ótimo em termos de custos e benefícios para o consumidor. Para tanto analisar- se-á as campanhas anti-pirataria, procurando detectar quais as estratégias retóricas que elas mobilizam para convencer as pessoas a não consumirem produtos piratas. E, dado que as campanhas existem porque a pirataria fere os interesses econômicos daqueles que as financiam, a questão da pirataria e dos discursos sobre ela proferidos, deve ser também enfocada como parte de disputa entre grupos de interesse, tipo de análise para o qual a Sociologia Econômica também oferece contribuições.
the aim of this article is to observe changes in the profile of the bureaucratic elite recruited ... more the aim of this article is to observe changes in the profile of the bureaucratic elite recruited to lead Brazil’s economic development. In order to fulfill this goal, the text presents a detailed description of the recruitment process adopted to select the staff of the Brazilian National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES). By analyzing the changes in the admission process of professionals with college degree, from 1955 to 2012, we intend to inquire how the inflections in the selection procedures and in the set of characteristics and skills that the Bank looks for when recruiting, vary according to the changes experienced by the institution itself. To do so, the article is going to present a set of events that occurred in history of the Bank that had impacts on the procedures and content required in the process of personnel selection. The study of the paradigmatic case of high-level bureaucracy, the one of the BNDES, allows the reader to enter the universe of selection contests, frequently considered an essential requirement for the creation and preservation of public service of excellence.
The increase in the number of public entities focusing on economic policy and intervention, which... more The increase in the number of public entities focusing on economic policy and intervention, which occurred during the 1950's, brought with it a shift in the administrative logic of the State, both in terms of recruitment – which would now privilege the selection of specialized professionals – and, in terms of the tasks attributed to new staff members, which were increasingly focused on preparing technical analyses to assist in the planning of economic activities. The National Bank for Economic Development (BNDE) was one of these institutions, which saw a consensus develop among its new specialists for the need for planning. This was, however, accompanied by a good deal of debate over the priorities and limitations of planning, and over the level of participation that the State and foreign capital should have in overall economic activity. During the 1950's, three leading employees of the BNDE, Roberto Campos, Celso Furtado and Ignácio Rangel offered up very distinct views of planning, which are now compared in this article in order to outline the different positions in relation to this subject that co-existed within the BNDE during its initial years.
A Sociologia da Ciência Econômica é a área da Sociologia Econômica que se ocupa das relaçõ... more A Sociologia da Ciência Econômica é a área da Sociologia Econômica que se ocupa das relações entre o conhecimento científico em Economia e a Economia propriamente dita. É um ponto comum à produção dos principais autores dessa área de estudos que a Ciência Econômica exerce influência sobre os fenômenos econômicos. Eles divergem, entretanto, no que concerne à forma como essa influência ocorre. Este artigo tem por objetivo comparar suas contribuições e mostrar como, por caminhos diferentes, eles conseguem sustentar esse ponto comum. Para tanto, a produção teórica da Sociologia da Ciência Econômica será dividida em duas correntes. A primeira orientada principalmente pelos escritos de
Michel Callon sobre as práticas e instrumentos pelos quais a performatividade é materializada; a segunda majoritariamente inspirada na obra de Pierre Bourdieu e em seus questionamentos acerca da relação entre teoria, teóricos e poder.
Resumo O artigo faz uma análise comparativa da forma e do sentido da utilização e contraposição d... more Resumo O artigo faz uma análise comparativa da forma e do sentido da utilização e contraposição dos termos " técnica " e " política " nos discursos de dirigentes e funcionários do Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social, BNDE(S), em dois momentos: de 1952 ao início dos anos 1970 e de 1994 a 2011. A comparação foi feita através do exame de um conjunto de entrevistas realizadas nos anos 1980, com funcionários e dirigentes do primeiro período, e um segundo conjunto de entrevistas, feitas entre 2012 e 2014, com diretores do segundo período. A análise dos dados permite ver que há uma transição do padrão dos discursos. Inicialmente havia uma oposição da burocracia aos políticos, que decorria da percepção de que haveria uma superioridade de uma burocracia qualificada para tomar decisões político-econômicas. No segundo período, posterior à redemocratização, o discurso expressa a tensão gerada pela necessidade simultânea de responder aos governantes titulares e de agir de modo a preservar os valores, a missão histórica do Banco e a excelência técnica contra ingerências políticas que pudessem ameaçar a instituição. Neste segundo momento não é o credenciamento dos burocratas e sim o refinamento das técnicas por eles empregadas que é mobilizado como recurso para justificar as decisões econômicas dos burocratas. As oposições encontradas foram lidas à luz das teorias críticas de Pierre Bourdieu e Herbert Marcuse, que permitem questionar o caráter meritocrático dos especialistas em Economia e a neutralidade da ciência e das técnicas por eles empregadas. O artigo contribui para o estudo das relações entre política e burocracia no Brasil através do estudo de um caso paradigmático. Ele permite verificar como a lógica da relação de oposição entre as esferas da técnica-ciência e da política se altera ao longo do tempo e busca, por meio de uma análise crítica dos dados, avaliar quais seriam os fundamentos sociais desta transformação.
Thesis Chapters by Elisa Klüger
Abstract: This study proposes to historically and socially embed the space of the economists in B... more Abstract: This study proposes to historically and socially embed the space of the economists in Brazil, addressing the ties between competing agents in order to establish boundaries and legitimacy principles of their knowledge and practice. The dissertation is dedicated to the study of economy experts who are in transit between the academy, the State, the private sector as well as between national and international spaces, emphasizing the convergence of two resources in accessing prestige and power positions: relationships with people and institutions and specialized credentials. Covering the period from the end of the 1930s to the beginning of 2000, the dissertation shows how the economists' space has become denser and which configurations and fragmentations prevailed at each point in time. Therefore, in order to emphasize the creation of ties over time, the analysis draws upon the interviews and secondary sources used to draw a network, which are presented at the end of each chapter. Data on social origins as well as professional careers was used to characterize each point of the system, revealing that bonds tend to be created between individuals who are socially similar, caused by structural proximity. The oxymoron "meritocracy of ties" features a study in which, despite the progressive appreciation of specialized qualification for the exercise of prestigious roles in economy, the importance of social capital as a route to access power is preserved as fundamental.
Books by Elisa Klüger
Power and Influence of Economists Contributions to the Social Studies of Economics, 2021
Economists occupy leading positions in many different sectors, including central and private bank... more Economists occupy leading positions in many different sectors, including central and private banks, multinational corporations, the state and the media, as well as serve as policy consultants on everything from health to the environment and security. Power and Influence of Economists explores the interconnected relationship between power, knowledge and influence which has led economics to be both a source and beneficiary of widespread power and influence. The contributors to this book explore the complex and diverse methods and channels that economists have used to exert and expand their influence from different disciplinary and national perspectives. Four different analytical views on the role of power and economics are taken: first, the role of economic expert discourses as power devices for the formation of influential expertise; second, the logics and modalities of governmentality that produce power/knowledge apparatuses between science and society; third, economists as involved in networks between academia, politics and the media; and fourth, economics considered as a social field, including questions of legitimacy and unequal relations between economists based on the accumulation of various capitals. The volume includes case studies on a variety of national configurations of economics, such as the US,
Maesse, J. (Ed.), Pühringer, S. (Ed.), Rossier, T. (Ed.), Benz, P. (Ed.). Power and Influence of Economists. London: Routledge., 2021
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Papers by Elisa Klüger
and his analytical perspective as an economist. As his autobiography, diaries, and interviews reveal, his passion and flirtations with literature were recurrent and important in his trajectory. It is possible to argue that Furtado’s proximity to literature contributed to making him an economist sentient both to narratives inhabited by individuals who in no way resemble the homo oeconomicus of neoclassical economic theory and to scenarios
shaped by social, cultural, and power structures that frame the actions of those individuals. This essay focuses on the project of a novel outlined by Celso Furtado in 1955, and recorded in his Diários intermitentes 1937-2002 (2019). The text is examined as a privileged viewpoint to apprehend the sociological imagination and the historically and culturally-rooted interpretation of Brazilian economy and society that made Celso
Furtado an inexorably heterodox economist.
Keywords: cosmopolitan capital; Brazilian elites; center>periphery relation.
Michel Callon sobre as práticas e instrumentos pelos quais a performatividade é materializada; a segunda majoritariamente inspirada na obra de Pierre Bourdieu e em seus questionamentos acerca da relação entre teoria, teóricos e poder.
Thesis Chapters by Elisa Klüger
Books by Elisa Klüger
and his analytical perspective as an economist. As his autobiography, diaries, and interviews reveal, his passion and flirtations with literature were recurrent and important in his trajectory. It is possible to argue that Furtado’s proximity to literature contributed to making him an economist sentient both to narratives inhabited by individuals who in no way resemble the homo oeconomicus of neoclassical economic theory and to scenarios
shaped by social, cultural, and power structures that frame the actions of those individuals. This essay focuses on the project of a novel outlined by Celso Furtado in 1955, and recorded in his Diários intermitentes 1937-2002 (2019). The text is examined as a privileged viewpoint to apprehend the sociological imagination and the historically and culturally-rooted interpretation of Brazilian economy and society that made Celso
Furtado an inexorably heterodox economist.
Keywords: cosmopolitan capital; Brazilian elites; center>periphery relation.
Michel Callon sobre as práticas e instrumentos pelos quais a performatividade é materializada; a segunda majoritariamente inspirada na obra de Pierre Bourdieu e em seus questionamentos acerca da relação entre teoria, teóricos e poder.