Culture brésilienne et médiation symbolique, le triangle rituel

In: Cahiers de sociologie économique et culturelle, Band 27, Heft 1, S. 119-128

Abstract

Brazilian culture and symbolical mediation : the ritual triangle.
The Brazilian society is probably one of the most contrasted and non egalitarian among the developing countries. As it is a very intricate society, it can be analysed according to various criteria that permit several multiple interpretations depending on the focus chosen. However, there is a principal bipolar relation that is based on the master/slave relationship rooted in the colonial history. This has always been used as a basis for any analysis of the Brazilian society. This permanent opposition is represented on the one hand by the social codes that symbolize the field of the home and on the other hand by the codes inspired by the field of the street. This text offers a sociological analysis based on a symbolic triangle ; the ambivalent and somewhat conflicting relation between the home and the street would be softened by the intervention of a third element, the other world that characterizes the mystical dimension of the social field. This is how the symbolic triangle of social interpretation is built. It can take the shape of various cultural fields such as carnival, literature and television.