ars psichologiae: disciplinary formation of Brazilian psychology (1945-1969)

• Grant number: 24/13633-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Other specific Sociologies
• Principal Investigator: Marcia Cristina Consolim
• Grantee: Rafael do Nascimento de Andrade
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The reception and institutionalization of scientific psychology in Brazil, which took place between the 1940s and 1960s, are themes that have been little investigated sociologically. Thus, the main object of this study is the chairs of Experimental Psychology and Educational Psychology at the University of São Paulo, founded between the 1930s and 1950s, which entered into disputes over the criteria for the legitimate definition of the discipline in the 1960s-a period notably marked by structural changes in the social space that affected the field of symbolic goods production. For this, the study is based on theoretical notions from the sociology of science, intellectuals, and, more specifically, disciplines. By studying the trajectories of the agents involved in the development of psychology in São Paulo, the main objective is to relate the structural changes in the social space with the trajectory of the discipline at this university. Regarding the documentary corpus, the research sources include institutional documents, biographies/memoirs, epistolary exchanges, and intellectual productions-a collection of artifacts that will be analyzed using both quantitative methods, such as statistical representation, and qualitative methods, such as content analysis. In summary, this project aims to understand the process of institutionalization of psychology as an academic discipline and to explore the applicability of such a case study model to the study of science.