Ensino de física e dependência: o caso do PSSC

Abstract

In the 1960s, the first international project for Physics Education arrived in Brazil: the Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC). During this period, Brazil’s dependent capitalism intensified. The influence of liberal development theories, advocated by the Alliance for Progress (APP), became central to U.S. policies toward Latin America. These theories impacted both Brazil’s socioeconomic policies and its educational policies, primarily through Human Capital Theory (HCT). This study analyzes the arrival of PSSC in Brazil within the context of dependent capitalism and its relationship with liberal development theories. Latin American Thought on Science, Technology, and Society (PLACTS) is employed to establish a critical counterpoint to the conceptions of Science and Technology (S&T) upheld by liberal development theories, notably HCT. Brazilian education of the period is characterized as U.S.-influenced, evidenced by the MEC-USAID agreements and the activities of the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, as well as the NSF. PSSC is critically analyzed through the lens of its S&T conceptions. It is concluded that PSSC embodies the historical-political foundations of its design—namely, the tenets of U.S. policies toward Latin America, which aimed to reproduce the capitalist production system and maintain U.S. hegemony in the region.