Various recent episodes and evolutions demonstrate how both traditional and new sectors of the Brazilian elite have embraced the dominance of finance and its logic in Brazilian society. An analysis of the creation and diffusion of corporate governance and private equity funds - in the sense these have acquired in Brazil - allows us to identify a convergence of the country's elite sectors in terms of the mechanisms created for financial measurement, although this outcome stems from a broadening of their polysemy. Explicitly introduced into Brazil to accelerate and facilitate the integration of Brazilian companies in the space and prevailing logic of financial markets, these mechanisms are making rapid advances, but are given a less hardcore meaning than the kind expected by financial experts. Though deplorable for more orthodox financial specialists, such an outcome is unlikely to surprise a trained social scientist. It is through polysemy that, as the Brazilian saying goes, "the pumpkins sort themselves out on the cart" formed by a society continually in transit. Analysis of the social dialogue surrounding financial issues therefore provides an excellent window for comprehending not only the economic disputes but also the political disputes agitating contemporary Brazilian society.
Economic sociology; Social studies of finance; Corporate governance; Private equity