Capes’ evaluation and the field of Economics: the primacy of the American orthodox mainstream
Abstract
Using the Bourdieusian concept of Field, this article looks at Capes’ evaluation
of graduate programs as an expression of the disputes surrounding the very definition of
what constitutes Economics. Based on extensive documentary analysis, it demonstrates how
the criteria in place are markedly exclusionary. On the one hand, they encourage researchers
to adopt the assumptions of neoclassical liberalism, tested by econometric models, in line
with American mainstream; on the other hand, they punish, in more or less extent, all other possible theoretical, methodological and thematic approaches, hindering the development of
studies built upon the many diverse local Brazilian realities.
JEL Classification: N01; B00; A12.
Keywords: Capes evaluation postgraduate studies neoclassical orthodoxy heterodox economy