500 anos de lutas sociais no Brasil: movimentos sociais, ONGs e terceiro setor

This paper aims to provide a brief but critical account of the social struggles carried on by the Brazilian society throughout the history of the country, specially the ones developed by the lower classes. Based on the conceptual delimitation of what social movements are, the article traces the main social movements and struggles of the last centuries. After this, it analyses the contemporaneity of the 1990s. The article also tries to provide an explanation for the issue of social participation in the turn of the millennium, in a state of affairs that is marked by the emergence of new forms of association, such as the non-governmental organizations and other entities from the third sector