Towards a constitutional sociology of property rights:

The social production of structural exclusion in postcolonial Brazil

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11117/rdp.v21i109.7702

Abstract

The article examines the emergence of modern social structures of property rights and their constitutional implications during the formation of world society. While European history has addressed this topic regionally, the process of modernization in colonial and postcolonial contexts, along with its global connections, remains underexplored. This work combines theoretical reflections from the literature on the sociology of constitutions with historiographical research on the formation of modern property rights in Europe and its colonies. It argues that the property structure of colonial Brazil is decisive for social cleavages and the social reproduction of exclusion in the later period. Due to the role land played in the constitution of power and privileges in the colonial times, postcolonial elites remain tied to the land. This results in no considerable and powerful sectors within postcolonial elites, unlike the European context, being interested (and strong enough) to break with the exclusionary social hierarchies inherited from the old regime. The old elite tied to land was also the new elite of independent Brazil.

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Author Biography

Pablo Holmes, Universidade de Brasília (Unb), Brasília (DF), Brasil

Professor associado do Instituto de Ciência Política (UnB) e na Pós-Graduação da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Brasília-UnB. É graduado (2004) e mestre (2007) em direito pela Faculdade de Direito do Recife - UFPE e doutor em sociologia pela Universidade de Flensburg, Alemanha (2012). É presidente da Associação Brasileira de Pesquisadores de Sociologia do Direito (ABRASD), no período de 07/2022 a 07/2024. Foi Käte Hamburger Fellow no Centre for Global Cooperation Research da Universidade de Duisburg-Essen, Alemanha (2017-2018), visiting scholar na Schulich School of Law da Dalhousie University, Canadá (2020), e pesquisador visitante no Centro de Política e Direito Europeus da Universidade de Bremen, Alemanha (2013).

Published

2024-04-30

How to Cite

Holmes, P. (2024). Towards a constitutional sociology of property rights:: The social production of structural exclusion in postcolonial Brazil. Direito Público, 21(109). https://doi.org/10.11117/rdp.v21i109.7702

Issue

Section

Terra e propriedade: o público e o privado na experiência jurídica brasileira da Colônia à República