Foundations, management of culture and (post) politics: the role of Brazilian and US private foundations in the cultural sphere

• Grant number: 15/03905-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: July 01, 2015
• End date: January 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Miqueli Michetti
• Grantee: Miqueli Michetti
• Host Investigator: Ralph Della Cava
• Host Institution: Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (EAESP). Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Columbia University in the City of New York, United States

Abstract

The research project aims to establish a temporal comparison of the performance in the field of culture of foundations linked to large companies in Brazil and in the United States to find out if there are significant differences between the role played by such foundations and the position they occupied in society during the Fordism as a regime of accumulation and their role and position nowadays, in the so called flexible accumulation (HARVEY, 1989). More generally, we are interested in investigate which position is assigned to the sphere of culture in the current relations between business and politics (conceived in the broad sense), especially when the State bequeaths some of their historical roles in favor of the market, which can then perform as a (post) political agent at the time of the "delegitimization" of politics. (STREECK, 2013; SASSEN, 2006; DARDOT e LAVAL, 2013). In the current process of "corporatization of politics and the politicization of corporations" (NYBERG; WRIGHT, 2014), the notion of governance substitutes the notion of government and the "corporate governance" ends up being the norm for state governance. Thus, the "management" colonizes social spaces previously designed from other logic (DARDOT AND LAVAL, 2013; GAULEJAC, 2005). In this context, the research will seek to elucidate the participation of private foundations in the new forms of "management" of culture. The hypothesis is that at the current time of separation of power and authority, (SENNETT, 2006), large companies can achieve the status of (post) political agents and take part in the definition of collective direction of areas such as social care, education, environment and culture. To a large extent, their privileged areas of expertise are precisely those that Wolfgang Streeck (2013) classifies as "collective or political goods".In addition to this more general scope, the research will analyze foundations both in the US and Brazil in order to scrutinize whether there is a possible Brazilian specificity with regard to the activities of these entities. Particular research interest lies in the fact that, in Brazil, the relationship of these institutions with the government has a particular configuration, especially in the last 15 years. (AU)