Patriarchism and Civilizational Involution: Brazil as a Case Study

LANGUAGES: English - Español - Português ABSTRACT This work argues that Brazil represents a paradigmatic case of the global civilizational involution process, worsened by a rigid patriarchal order forged during 500 years of slavery. Using Lacan’s theory of the Symbolic Order and the constitutive function of Lack in subject formation, it explains patriarchism as a logic that organizes social relations around domination and objectification. Analyzing data on violence against women, economic inequality, and institutional performance, the paper demonstrates how this logic manifests across different domains: socio-sexual control, ideological legitimation, and material extraction. It further contends, through Butler’s theory, that institutional reforms function as performative acts, simulating change while preserving the core patriarchal logic. The article concludes that overcoming this involution cycle requires a radical symbolic reorganization, positing the metaphor “The Best Future is Feminine” as a horizon. This represents not a reversal of power but the performative inauguration of a new social logic, one founded on the psychosocial incorporation of vulnerability, interdependence, and care as constitutive domains; a symbolic shift that would reconfigure the male subjective economy, transforming it from one driven by the anxiety of lack into one sustained by the recognition of mutual dependence, thereby establishing the basis for a sustainable and less violent society.