Social work and critical analyzes of the Brazilian third sector: Frankfurtian interpretations of the process of institutionalization of social movements by NGOs

Abstract

When we refer to social organization for political participation, it is known that what comes into the collective imagination are NGOs, once this place was occupied by social movements, which currently divide and lose space to non-governmental organizations. In this sense, the present work, with the purpose of analyzing this movement of institutionalization of social struggles by NGOs, uses critical theory to debate the formation and structuring of these organizations. Therefore, we build on these results to propose new paths and new understandings of the topic. When analyzing the socio-historical context of the formation and implementation of these new social organizations in the light of critical theory, we perceive a dialectical movement that transforms social movements, placing demands, agendas and their operationalization under the umbrella of NGOs. In this way, making use of the critical theoretical apparatus developed by the authors of the Frankfurt school, is undoubtedly a possible path for an exercise in de-alienation and understanding the particularities of NGOs in maintaining the current order with the maintenance of exploitation and the consequent expansion of capital.