Before the Outbursts: June 2013 in Brazil and its Interpretations

• Autor: Cortés, Alexis
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2026
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Repositorio: Revistas - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/32585
• Enlace del recurso: http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/debatesensociologia/article/view/32585
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Social outbursts; Uprising; June 2013; Brazil; Bolsonarism; Estallido social; Jornadas de Junio de 2013; Brasil; Bolsonarismo

This paper analyses social science interpretations of the «June 2013 protests» in Brazil, based on the assumption that this contentious event anticipated some of the main trends in the cycle of social unrest that has spread throughout the region. Originally called as protests against public transport fare increases in São Paulo, they quickly reached a national scale with particular characteristics: multiple demands, decentralized calls to action, intensive use of social media, an eminently urban character, and contentious forms of action. However, there was subsequently a shift towards agendas functional to the political right: antipartisanship, antiunionism, and opposition to government corruption. This led the left to interpret the protests as being manipulated by the right wing, paving the way for Bolsonaro's rise to power. Although the social sciences did not echo this interpretation, at times they tended to read the protests in an intrinsically emancipatory light. This paper highlights the more ambivalent meanings of these events, as well as their status as a field of interpretative battle in which the social sciences play a fundamental role.