THE RELEVANCE OF THE THIRD WAY IN POLITICS TODAY: A BRIEF ESSAY ON CHESTERTON'S DISTRIBUTIVE DOCTRINE IN THE BRAZILIAN CONTEXT

Abstract

This essay analyzes the relevance of Gilbert Chesterton's distributist doctrine today, especially from his work An Outline of Sanity (1927), in dialogue with the Brazilian socioeconomic reality. Starting from Chesterton's critique of the concentration of property in both monopoly capitalism and socialism, the text highlights the centrality of the diffusion of small farm as the foundation of economic autonomy, political freedom, and social cohesion. Next, the Brazilian case is examined, highlighting the structural relevance of economic forms based on small farm, such as micro-entrepreneurship and family farming, which support millions of people and reveal the persistence of this model in contemporary times. Finally, it argues that, in the face of the advance of economic concentration on a global scale, distributism offers a critical perspective capable of contributing to reflection on more balanced alternatives for social organization, especially in contexts marked by historical inequalities such as Brazil.