The Controversial Reception of Max Weber in Brazil (1940-1980)

This article deals with the controversial reception of Max Weber during the early decades of institutionalization of sociology in Brazil, arguing that the German scholar's ideas were grasped on the basis of Brazilian sociology's own issues. This perspective suggests that central propositions of Weberian sociology such as the formulation of ideal types and the meaning of science were received reservedly in Brazil and reworked to the extent that he was read together with other authors. The point of departure was to revisit articles from Sociologia journal, followed by a focus on the valorization of propositions by Hans Freyer and Karl Mannheim as opposed to Max Weber's positions on the sociologist's role, concluding with an approach to the controversy on ideal types, led by Maria Sylvia de Carvalho Franco, which involves writings by Florestan Fernandes and Fernando Henrique Cardoso.