EPGE ? Brazilian School of Economics and Finance and Rio de Janeiro Law School (Direito Rio), both from Fundação Getulio Vargas, held, on October 27, the debate Critical Reinterpretation of Contemporary Brazil with the president of the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA), Jessé de Souza. The round table also included the participation of the Schools? deans, Professors Rubens Penha Cysne (EPGE) and Joaquim Falcão (Direito Rio).Introduced by Professor Rubens Cysne, who welcomed the audience, Jessé began his presentation explaining that Brazil did not see itself clearly as a nation before 1933. He mentioned the work Casa Grande e Senzala, written by the sociologist Gilberto Freyre, as a landmark, responsible for creating the national mythology.Jessé also said that Brazilians usually feel inferior to other societies and see the US as the perfect country, as if the latter did not have corruption and patrimonialism, according to the president of IPEA. The prevailing myth is that Brazil comes from Portugal, and therefore, it is sentimental, and bases itself on personal relationships, as if that was not true for other countries of Europe, the US, China or anywhere in the world, he said.The President of IPEA also said that capitalism is much more than an economic mode of production. Capitalism defines itself as a fairer model of society because the most competent are successful and the lazy ones are unsuccessful. However, this is a big lie, because social classes are established since year zero. This understanding arises because capitalism attempts to explain human behavior through an economic bias. Capitalism reproduces privileges by inheritance, he said.The sociologist ended his lecture by stating that Brazil is one of the most unequal countries in the world and that the conflict among classes is hidden. According to him, there is a silent conflict that is closely related to the fact that 1% of the population holds all the national wealth.Professor Joaquim Falcão, in his turn, said that the best model has not yet been defined. According to him, those who manage to define the way of life in this global competition win the economic battle. For this reason, he reaffirmed that it is important for Brazil to discover its own identity.Professor Rubens Cysne expressed once again his gratitude to EPGE for providing the public, freely and openly, with discussions on topics relevant to the country.