This paper discusses Gilberto Freire's work from one of the core problems of the sociological contemporary theory: the micro-macro link. We have focused the analysis toward the relation amongst macrosocial phenomena (family formation, failure of the rural patriarchy, rise of the law graduates (bacharéis) and the formation of a national urban culture) and the biographies - micro level - frequently used in Freyre's writings (Félix Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, Priest Ibiapina, Joaquim Nabuco e Gonçalves Dias, among others). Hence, we have sought to evaluate whether the passage from the macro toward the micro level, in the work of the mentioned author, can be understood from categories such as reduction, aggregation, and supervenience.
Gilberto Freyre; Sociology and biography; Explanation; Reduction and aggregation; Micro-macro articulation