Florestan Fernandes (22 July 1920 – 10 August 1995) was a Brazilian sociologist and politician.

In youth he took a series of odd jobs and had an erratic education until he attended the University of São Paulo in 1941.

In 1969 he fled to Canada for political reasons and began to teach at the University of Toronto.

[1] In his treatment of Marxism, he is known for presenting hybrid views that diverged from orthodox theory and from conventional leftist practical concessions.

A sociologist and university professor with more than 50 published works, he transformed social thought in Brazil and established a new standard of sociological research characterized by analytical and critical rigor.