Eduardo Altheman C. Santos
Eduardo Altheman C. Santos received his Master’s and PhD in Sociology from the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, where he was also a post-doctoral teaching fellow. He has held international affiliations at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main (host: Thomas Lemke) and Duke University (host: Fredric Jameson), in addition to being a former research fellow at CAPAS in the 2024-25 cohort. His research interests include the Frankfurt School (especially Herbert Marcuse), critical theory (broadly construed), platform capitalism, Marxism, critical neoliberalism studies, ideology critique, fascism and authoritarianism, and the work of Michel Foucault.
Eduardo’s work has appeared in Re-thinking Marxism, Cultural Dynamics, and Focus on German Studies, in addition to several Brazilian journals, such as Tempo Social, Caderno CRH, Ciências Sociais Unisinos, and Cadernos Metrópole. He is the author of A economia do poder e o poder da economia – neoliberalismo e governamentalidade em Foucault [The power of economy and the economy of power – neoliberalism and governmentality in Foucault] (FFLCH/USP, 2015). He is co-editor of the Fall 2022 issue of Cultural Dynamics, “Neoliberalism in the Americas: Brutal experiments from the Global South,” and co-editor of The Marcusean Mind (Routledge, 2024). In 2023, he received the Marielle Franco Prize from the International Herbert Marcuse Society.
Eduardo has also translated books and essays by Max Horkheimer, T. W. Adorno, Wendy Brown, and Thomas Lemke, among others, from German and English into Brazilian Portuguese.
He is currently working on a book manuscript tentatively titled Dreamed in California, Nightmared in The Global South - Techno-Utopias Upside Down. Based on empirical work with platform workers in São Paulo, the manuscript investigates the relationship between technology, labor, exploitation, and ideology. Drawing from Marcusean insights and challenging the hypothesis of technological neutrality, the book aims to scrutinize how Northern utopian visions of a more rational and streamlined society are distorted in concrete Southern situations, often generating cataclysmic scenarios discernible by a dialectics of rationality/irrationality, future/regression, autonomy/heteronomy.
P U B L I C A T I O N S
Monograph
2015. A economia do poder e o poder da economia: neoliberalismo e
governamentalidade em Foucault [The Economy of Power and the Power of the
Economy: Neoliberalism and Governmentality in Foucault]. São Paulo. FFLCH-USP.
Editor
Forthcoming in 2025. Leyendo a Herbert Marcuse hoy / Lendo Herbert Marcuse hoje / Reading Herbert Marcuse today. Special Issue of Constelaciones. Revista de Teoría Crítica.
2024. The Marcusean Mind. London, UK; New York, USA: Routledge (Routledge
Philosophical Minds Series). Co-edited with Jina Fast, Nicole K. Mayberry, and Sid
Simpson.
2022. “Neoliberalism in the Americas. Brutal experiments, distressful realities, and
conspicuous contestations”. Special Issue of Cultural Dynamics, 34 (3-4). Co-edited
with Mónica González Garcia and Ximena Martinez.
Peer-reviewed Articles
2024. Altheman C. Santos, Eduardo; Minhoto, L. D.; Camargos, P. Militarização,
milicianização e gestão do crime na cidade neoliberal [Militarization, Militianization,
and Crime Management in the Neoliberal City]. Cadernos Metrópole 26 (61): 277-296.
2023. Altheman, Eduardo; Della Torre de C. Lima, Bruna. Cem anos do Instituto de
Pesquisa Social. Entrevista com Martin Jay [100th Anniversary of the Institute for
Social Research. Interview with Martin Jay]. Cadernos de Filosofia Alemã: Crítica e
Modernidade, 28: 111-124.
2022. Introduction. Neoliberalism in the Americas. Brutal experiments, distressful
realities, and conspicuous contestations. Cultural Dynamics, 34 (3-4): 1-11.
Co-authored with Mónica González Garcia and Ximena Martinez.
2022. “Nicht mitmachen!” and “Weitermachen!” – re-reading Adorno and Marcuse
on theory and praxis. Rethinking Marxism, 34(1): 63–80. Co-authored with Bruna
Della Torre.
2022. Plataformas enxutas e a estrutura de classes da sociedade neoliberal [Lean
platforms and the class strucutre of neoliberal society]. Ciências Sociais Unisinos,
58: 34-46.
2022. Autoritarismo neoliberal: um balanço [Authoritarian neoliberalism: an
overview]. BIB Revista Brasileira de Informação Bibliográfica em Ciências Sociais,
1(98): 1-15.
2021. Entre rackets e monopólios [Amidst rackets and monopolies]. Caderno CRH,
34: 1-4.
2020. Entre o Homo Oeconomicus e o Homo Criminalis: Neoliberalismo, Punição
e Regimes de Subjetivação [Between Homo Oeconomicus and Homo Criminalis:
Neoliberalism, Punishment and Subjectivation Regimes]. Mediações, 25: 339-357.
2019. Neoliberal unfoldings of Lulism: remarks on the strained relationship between
class and entrepreneurship. Revista de Estudos e Pesquisas sobre as Américas, 13:
271-297. Co-authored with Bruna Della Torre and Vladimir Puzone.
2018. A teoria crítica na ordem do dia: Horkheimer hoje. [Critical Theory on the
Agenda: Horkheimer today]. Plural, 25: 265-271.
2018. Review of Red Vienna, White Socialism, and the Blues, by Rob McFarland.
Focus on German Studies, 23: 79-82.
2018. Socialização e dominação: A Escola de Frankfurt e a cultura. [Socialization
and Domination: the Frankfurt School and Culture] Tempo Social, 30: 123-141.
Co-authored with Bruna Della Torre.
2017. Teoria Crítica, velhos e novos desafios: entrevista com Andrew Feenberg.
[Critical Theory: Old Challenges and New] Ideias, 8: p. 297-306. Co-authored with
Bruna Della Torre.
2017. Escola de Frankfurt, Foucault e o Neoliberalismo. Entrevista com Thomas
Lemke. [Frankfurt School, Foucault, and Neoliberalism - Interview with Thomas
Lemke] Tempo Social, 29: 305-314. Co-authored with Bruna Della Torre.
2016. Em rota de colisão: Adorno, Marcuse e os Movimentos Estudantis. [On Collision
Course: Adorno, Marcuse and the Students' Movements] Ideias, 7: 37-57.
2013. Crédito à morte: A decomposição do capitalismo e suas críticas, de Anselm
Jappe. [Book review of Anselm Jappe's Credit unto Death] Plural, 20: 219-222.
Book Chapters
Forthcoming in 2025. Foucault vs. Marcuse? Reassessing The Sexuality/Power “Debate.” In: Amirhosein Khandizaji (Ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
Forthcoming in 2025. Retrofuturos de plataforma [Platform retrofutures]. In: Miruna Achim, Bruno Gandlgruber, and Analiese Richard (Eds.). Ensayos en las orillas del tiempo. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Cuajimalpa / Universidad de Heidelberg.
Forthcoming in 2025. Além de 68: Herbert Marcuse e a contrarrevolução [ Beyond 68: Herbert Marcuse and the Counterrevolution]. In: Adriana Matos, Renata Guerra e Simone Fernandes (Eds.). Os sentidos da Teorica Crítica hoje.
2024. Introduction. In: Eduardo Altheman C. Santos, Jina Fast, Nicole K. Mayberry,
and Sid Simpson. In: Eduardo Altheman, Jina Fast, Nicole K. Mayberry, and Sid
Simpson (Eds.). The Marcusean Mind. London, UK; New York: Routledge.2024. An Era of Counterrevolutions. In: Eduardo Altheman, Jina Fast, Nicole K.
Mayberry, and Sid Simpson (Eds.). The Marcusean Mind. London, UK; New York:
Routledge.
2024. Fascism Now and Then - Herbert Marcuse's Legacies for the Critique of
Far-Right Authoritarianism. In: Eduardo Altheman, Jina Fast, Nicole K. Mayberry,
and Sid Simpson (Eds.). The Marcusean Mind. London, UK; New York: Routledge.
2024. From Advanced Industrial Society to Neoliberalism: The Dialectics of Integration and Disintegration. In: Eduardo Altheman, Jina Fast, Nicole K. Mayberry, and Sid Simpson (Eds.). The Marcusean Mind. London, UK; New York: Routledge.
2023. Forma mercadoria e forma empresa: hieróglifos sociais do século XXI [Commodity form and enterprise form: social hieroglyphs of the 21st century]. In: Seabra, Raphael L.; Klein, Stefan. (Eds.). Marx 200 anos - questões, debates e vigência nas Ciências Sociais. Zouk, Porto Alegre.
2021. Empreendedorismo de si no capitalismo de plataforma – um estudo com entregadores ciclistas em São Paulo [Self-Entrepreneurship in platform capitalism – a study with cyclist couriers in São Paulo]. In: CALLIL, V.; COSTANZO, D. (Eds.). Estudos de mobilidade por bicicleta 4. Cebrap, São Paulo.
2017. Appendix: Interview with Bruna Della Torre de Carvalho Lima and Eduardo Altheman Camargo Santos. In: Darrell P. Arnold; Andreas Michel (Eds.). Critical Theory and the Thought of Andrew Feenberg. Springer: 319-326.
Translations
2025. Forthcoming. A filosofia da concentração absoluta e Introdução. São Paulo: EdUnesp. Translation from German to Portuguese of two essays written by Max Horkheimer to be published in the Brazilian edition of his Collected Writings.
2020. De Lukács à Escola de Frankfurt. TRANS/FORM/AÇÃO. Translation from English to Portuguese of a book chapter by Andrew Feenberg. Co-translated with Bruna Della Torre.
2020. Nas ruínas do neoliberalismo. São Paulo: Politeia. Translation from English to Portuguese of In the ruins of neoliberalism, by Wendy Brown. Co-translated with Mario Marino.
2018. Rearticulando o Conceito de Dispositivo: Combinando STS e Analiítica do Governo. Mediações. Translation from English to Portuguese of an essay by Thomas Lemke.
2018. Biopolítica: críticas, debates e perspectivas. São Paulo: Politeia. Translation from German to Portuguese of Biopolitik: zur Einführung, by Thomas Lemke.
2017. Foucault, governamentalidade e crítica, Plural. Translation from English to Portuguese of an article by Thomas Lemke originally published in Re-thinking Marxism.
2017. Foucault, governamentalidade e crítica. São Paulo: Politeia. Translation from English to Portuguese of Foucault, governmentality, and critique, book written by Thomas Lemke. Co-translated with Mario Marino.