Abstract

The article analyzes the texts of Marilena Chaui dedicated to the notion of popular culture. Our aim is, on the one hand, to clarify that these texts are consistent with Chaui’s works dedicated to the history of philosophy. On the other hand, our aim is to point out how Chaui establishes, since the end of the 1970s, a critical dialogue with the Brazilian left wing. A dialogue that has as its focus not only the general understanding of the idea of culture but, above all, the understanding that a popular culture is an ambiguous expression of the domination suffered by the popular classes.