[6] In 1997 he was a finalist of the Jabuti Prize, competing with the book O Corpo da Pátria: imaginação geográfica e política externa no Brasil, 1808–1912 ("The Body of the Nation: geographical imagination and foreign policy in Brazil, 1808–1912", UNESP).

In 1983 however, Magnoli abandoned Marxism, claiming it favoured authoritarianism because it made its followers believe that they had secret knowledge of the "End of History", therefore giving intellectuals the function of directing society towards that goal.

[10][11] In the 2018 presidential elections nonetheless, Magnoli supported Worker's Party Candidate Fernando Haddad, claiming Jair Bolsonaro was a threat to democracy in Brazil.

[12] In his 2009 book, Uma Gota de Sangue ("A Drop of Blood"), the central thesis is that "affirmative actions and the Black Movement result from an ideological scam" (multiculturalism), which "works against the principle of equality before the law."

[15] At the time, he even objected the choice of the university president by direct vote, saying it only made sense "in the 1960s and 1970s", when "there was a need to preserve the educational institution as an area of freedom of expression.