Class dynamics of rural transformation in Brazil: a critical assessment of the current agrarian debate

Abstract

The election of Jair Bolsonaro represents the culmination of a conjuncture featuring the rise of right-wing populism and authoritarian neoliberalism in Brazil. This article analyzes the role played by dominant and subaltern rural social classes in a process that brought the country to this situation by critically assessing the current Brazilian agrarian debate. A segmentation of distinct class fractions within the categories of patronal agriculture and family farming is proposed. The origin and significance of the institutional ambiguity that marked Brazilian agri-food policies, as well as the reasons behind their dismantling, are explored. The agrarian question remains the key to understanding the contradictory dynamics of Brazilian capitalism and the challenges of its national formation.