This article analyzes the public action of private business institutes in the cultural sphere in contemporary Brazil. Such action is conditioned by the Brazilian public power through incentive laws to culture by tax waiver. The main goal of this text is to search how private foundations and institutes place themselves as one of the mediators that permit the conversion of economic capital in political power, or also in a pretense post-politic governance. The research methodology of this article was constituted of a literature review and of the qualitative and quantitative data analysis of the use of public resources resulting from tax waiver. The sociological discourse analysis also grounds the study. In conclusion, this article points out a reopening of the debate about the legitimacy of private agents acting in the public sphere, which makes us question the nature of democracy itself.
Cultural institutes; Incentive laws to culture; Contemporary Brazil; Post-politics; Legitimacy