The crisis of science in Brazil:: austerity, “culture war” and innovationism

The article discusses the production of knowledge at Brazilian universities. It is based on an exploratory investigation, which includes bibliographic research, analysis of documents on different issues impinging on the topic, and the consultation of existing aggregate data. It concludes by exposing the crisis of science in Brazilian universities based on an analysis of three factors: the impacts of fiscal austerity; the advance of neoconservatism and neofascism in Brazilian society, materialized in the “culture war” against universities; and the reduction of science to the production of innovations for profit.The article discusses the production of knowledge at Brazilian universities. It is based on an exploratory investigation, which includes bibliographic research, analysis of documents on different issues impinging on the topic, and the consultation of existing aggregate data. It concludes by exposing the crisis of science in Brazilian universities based on an analysis of three factors: the impacts of fiscal austerity; the advance of neoconservatism and neofascism in Brazilian society materialized in the “culture war” against universities; and the reduction of science to the production of innovations for profit