$Unique_ID{bob00130}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Brazil
Chapter 2F.   Education}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{P. A. Kluck}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{education
percent
students
schools
school
primary
brazil
federal
level
1970s}
$Date{1982}
$Log{}
Title:       Brazil
Book:        Brazil, A Country Study
Author:      P. A. Kluck
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1982

Chapter 2F.   Education

     In accordance with reform legislation enacted in 1971, the educational
system is structured into four "grades" (graus): an eight-year primary-school
cycle; a three-to-four-year middle level, equivalent to secondary school in
the United States; higher education at the undergraduate level; and advanced
graduate education. The term middle school is used to describe "2 Grade" as a
whole to avoid confusion with the secondary schools (escolas secundarias),
which in Brazil are middle-level institutions whose academically oriented
curriculum is designed specifically to prepare students for university
entrance.

     The basic structural changes introduced by the reform included shifting
grades five through eight, formerly lower middle-level grades, to the primary
level. The extension of primary school to the eighth grade was in keeping with
efforts to give the system greater flexibility, encouraging children to stay
in school longer, and allowing them to progress at rates suitable to their
abilities. The qualifying examination taken at the end of the fourth grade,
which had restricted promotion to the next level, was eliminated.

     The administration of public education was decentralized. Primary and
middle schools are the responsibility of the state and municipal governments,
although participation by the latter may differ from state to state. In
general, however, schools in cities are usually operated by municipal
authorities at the primary level and in rural areas by the state. Most
middle-level schools are under state jurisdiction. The Ministry of Education
and Culture in Brasilia exercises a direct federal role in operating schools
in the several federal territories and special vocational and adult education
programs and in public higher education. The federal ministry's primary
function is to set national guidelines for education and to rectify regional
disparities through financial and technical assistance to state and municipal
school systems. A large private-school sector supplements the public system,
particularly at the middle level. The majority of private schools operate
under the aegis of Roman Catholic dioceses and religious orders. Private
schools are also eligible for government subsidies, and tuition is tax
deductible.

     The formulation of overall educational policy is the responsibility of
the Federal Council of Education (Conselho Federal de Educacao-CFE), acting
under the executive direction of the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Composed of a panel of 24 prominent educators appointed by the president to
six-year terms of office, the CFE is also charged with establishing minimal
national standards for federal, state, and municipal systems and proposing a
syllabus for studies at each grade level. In addition, its members supervise
the federal school system, accredit institutions of higher education, and
monitor their administration. The federal ministry is vested with
decisionmaking powers and implements the CFE's policy recommendations. Each
state has a parallel education secretariat and advisory council. Retired
military officers frequently fill important administrative posts in the
federal and state educational systems.

     State and municipal governments are required by law to allocate a minimum
of 20 percent of their budgets for primary and middle-level education.
Expenditures have grown rapidly at these levels, but great disparities exist
in funds available for education among states in different regions. In the
state of Sao Paulo, for instance, more than 30 percent of revenues are
channeled into education. Federal funds enable poorer states to compensate for
a low-revenue base, but Sao Paulo's spending on education is at least equal to
that of the total federal expenditure for education.

     Although federal spending expanded at an annual rate of more than 10
percent during the 1970s, the proportion of the federal budget earmarked for
education fell to under 5 percent of the total, and funds declined in real
terms because of inflation.

Primary and Middle-Level Education

     The restructuring of the educational systems initiated by the 1971 reform
law represented a basic shift in philosophy and a reassessment of goals. The
latter were stated as improving access to education, retaining students in
school for a longer period, making vocational training an integral part of the
curriculum for all students through middle school, and equalizing educational
opportunities across the country. Rigid academic standards and terminal
examinations that kept students, particularly those from lower socioeconomic
strata, from advancing to the next grade level were abolished. While
responding to middle-class demands by greatly increasing university places,
the reform package also insisted on modernizing curricula to include
vocational, or "professional," training that would give students who failed
to gain admission a practical alternative to university education. Education
was officially viewed as a key factor in the country's economic development
that was expected to prepare "human resources" for the labor force as well as
scholars for the university.

     Critics of the system that pertained before the reform attributed a share
of the blame for socioeconomic inequality to the inordinate stress laid on
year-end examination. Underqualified teachers allegedly gauged their
efficiency by the difficulty of the tests they prepared for their students.
Failures at the primary level among children from lower income families were
so frequent that their schooling was reduced to what was sometimes described
as a babysitting operation. As a result, a majority of children dropped out of
school after the fourth grade. Even after the reform, the problem of
large-scale failures and school leaving reportedly persisted, especially in
rural and depressed urban areas where as many as half of the students repeated
the first grade and as many as a quarter were held back in succeeding years.
Government-sponsored studies attribute the causes to social problems that are
manifestations of poverty-such as cultural backwardness, the need for children
to work, recurrent illness, and inadequate nutrition-rather than to flaws in
the educational system. A rise in the retention rate in some localities, for
example, was linked to the introduction of school lunch programs. Classroom
overcrowding in cities and distance to school in rural areas were also cited.
Education is compulsory by law through the eighth grade, but enforcement of
the regulation is virtually impossible. The continuing problem of school
leaving appears to have been underestimated by official statistics in the
late 1970s, because children who had in fact dropped out or attended class
irregularly were kept on school rolls.

     Primary and middle-level classes included many students who were older
than assigned age brackets for their grades. Nearly half those in the second
four-year grade were 15 or older. Slightly less than 20 percent of those in
the 14-to-19-year age bracket nationally were enrolled in middle school, where
they represented only about 60 percent of the total. Ten percent studying at
this level were over 25 years of age. The age distortion is caused by the
incidence of grade repetition, returning school leavers, and part-time
students.

     The syllabus recommended by the CFE calls for an integrated course to
achieve literacy and develop computational skills during the first four years
at the primary level. Vocational courses are introduced in upper primary
school and are compulsory. The academic side of the curriculum at that level
includes Portuguese, science, mathematics, social studies, geography, and
history, although not all schools are equipped to offer the full range of
subjects up to prescribed norms. Religious instruction under Roman Catholic
auspices must be offered in all public schools, but only as an optional
course.

     The full curriculum is largely restricted to urban schools, which have
teachers for each grade and for specialized instruction. Severe crowding is a
serious problem, however, in schools in poorer urban areas, and facilities are
limited. Schools in smaller towns typically have several classrooms for pupils
following a common program at different levels of advancement but seldom offer
specialized subjects. The dispersed pattern of rural settlements and
underinvestment in primary education usually limit attendance to a dozen or
more children in one-room, single-teacher schools, in which there is no real
separation of students into grades. In the mid-1970s they accounted for about
two-thirds of all primary schools.

     Pre-primary school facilities for children aged five to seven years
operate effectively in large urban centers, but they largely draw children
from middle-class families and accommodate less than 5 percent in the
assigned age bracket.

     The most far-reaching changes resulting from the 1971 reforms have taken
place in the middle schools. Students attending the three-to-four-year
schools at this level elect to enter to either the academic (secondary) or the
vocational (professional) tracks. Although there is in practice a high degree
of flexibility in both programs of study, the former is designed essentially
to prepare students for the next level of formal education, attracting in 1978
about 40 percent of the 2.5 million middle-school matriculants. The vocational
track is intended to provide marketable skills for employment in the labor
market at graduation as well as further grounding in basic academic subjects.

     Admission is open to primary-school graduates, but less than 20 percent
of those in the 15-to-19-year age bracket nationally attend middle schools,
popularly called colleges (colegios), and in the Northeast the figure dips to
10 percent. In some localities the shortage of school buildings is so acute
that classes are held in shifts, often in multipurpose facilities. Night
sessions are commonly relied on to permit employed students to attend classes.

     Middle-level programs in both tracks are divided into classroom hours
rather than school years, enabling students to proceed at a pace geared to
the amount of time available to them from employment. Depending on the
program, requirements can ordinarily be met in the equivalent of three years
of full-time study but can be completed in as few as two years or as many as
five years or more. In addition to the opportunity that this arrangement gives
to students to work and study at the same time, it also facilitates the return
of students who leave school prematurely.

     The curriculum is based on a "common nucleus" of 1,000 classroom hours,
consisting of courses in Portuguese language and Brazilian literature,
history, social studies, mathematics, and science. The vocational track
includes 130 specialized areas of training within categories for industry,
agriculture, primary education, service occupations, and commerce. The last
category is the most popular, involving about one-third of all vocational
students. A nonspecialized program is available in a "family of skills."
Classroom work is supplemented by periods of supervised apprenticeship in
facilities maintained by the schools.

     All students, including those in the academic track, must participate in
a vocational program, although the choice of university-bound students is
usually a white-collar skill, such as advertising technology, that may to some
degree complement their academic studies. A complete vocational course
requires up to 1,200 hours in a selected field and is rewarded with a
certificate as a technician (tencico). Lower levels of auxiliary
certification-usually sought by students in the academic track-can
be achieved after a minimum of 300 hours of specialized study.

     The vocational training program, which was the cornerstone of the
middle-school reform, was implemented immediately in several states, including
Rio de Janiero and Rio Grande do Sul, but "professionalization" of the
curriculum was resisted in others. Enforcement, even in the public school, has
been erratic. Some schools, particularly in the private sector, comply with
the letter of the law simply by altering the description of traditional
university preparatory courses. Implementation has also been impeded in many
states by the lack of physical facilities and trained faculty.

     Schools in the private sector, which are mainly operated by Roman
Catholic diocesan authorities or by religious orders, have made important
contributions to education, especially at the middle-school level. Although
church-related schools are not the exclusive preserve of the well-to-do and in
many instances have served to fill gaps in the public system, they have
traditionally drawn the bulk of their students from an established elite and
from the upwardly mobile who regard a university education as the next stop
after the colegio. Although tuition is tax deductible, private schools are
expensive and many facilities makes a significant sacrifice to send their
children to them, both for the religious environment of Catholic institutions
and for their emphasis on academic subjects. With the dramatic expansion of
tuition-free public schools, however, parents presented with a choice between
a public school and a marginally superior private school have tended to decide
for the former. Although the number of their matriculants is stable, private
schools have attracted a decreasing share of the total enrollment, about 40
percent in the late 1970s as compared with 60 percent a decade earlier.

     Despite the massive growth of higher education, entrance examinations,
which are the sole criterion for acceptance, remain highly competitive, with
fewer places available  than applicants in some degree programs (see Higher
Education, this ch.). The examinations are considered so difficult and so
crucial that middle-school graduates usually enroll in curzinhos (literally,
little courses), expensive but intensive preparation courses offered by
private educational enterprises, which compete vigorously on the market
to recruit students. Although curzinhos are expensive, the quality of
instruction is highly rated. To compensate for apparent shortcomings of
academic preparation within the formal school system, the entrance
examinations have been watered down and students encouraged to forgo the
curzinhos.

     A specialized normal-school (pedagogical) program is included among the
occupational categories in the middle-school vocational track to train
primary-level teachers and prepare a smaller number of aspiring middle-level
teachers for admission to the university. Over 200,000 students, the large
majority female, were enrolled in normal schools in the late 1970s. Their
number declined proportionally during that period, however, and was not
considered adequate to meet the need for qualified teachers.

     Primary- and middle-school teachers are certified by the state education
authority. Completion of middle-school pedagogical training is required for
full primary-level certification, but provisional certification for teaching
in the lower primary grades may be given to holders of a teaching assistant
diploma who have passed through the normal-school program offered in the upper
primary grades. In the early 1970s only about 70 percent of primary teachers
were fully certified, and in rural and urban slum schools at least half of the
primary teachers had not themselves finished the upper primary grades.
According to recommended norms, middle-school teachers should be university
graduates in philosophy, science, letters, or education; after a probationary
period they must pass a qualifying examination to be certified. Teachers in
this category, however, are a minority in most schools. Many classes,
particularly in specialized areas and vocational courses, are taught by
part-time licensed personnel.

     At least 90 percent of primary school teachers and more than half of
those at the middle level are women. The late 1970s witnessed a marginal
decline in the total number of primary-school teachers; during the same
period student enrollment rose by 33 percent. Although an increase was noted
in the number of middle-school teachers, it did not keep pace with the rate of
growth of students. The student-teacher ratio at the primary level in 1978
was calculated at 25 to one, at the middle level, 14 to one.

     The turnover in teachers is regarded as a serious problem. Teaching is a
respected profession in Brazil and confers status in the community, but
salary levels are low and working conditions poor. A large proportion of young
teachers leave the profession after a few years for better paying jobs or,
among the women who make up the bulk of primary-level personnel, for marriage.

Higher Education

     Priority in the expansion of education after 1964 went where the
discrepancy between demand and supply seemed greatest-to higher education,
classified 3 Grade at the undergraduate and 4 Grade at the graduate level. In
1979 there were a total of 887 accredited institutions of higher education.
These included 65 universities, of which 44 were public and charged only
nominal fees. Quality varied; some were respected schools of medicine, law,
engineering, architecture, design, and music, while others were criticized for
their lax standards. In the 1970s a group of about 20 public universities were
considered Brazil's top-ranking institutions; the University of Sao Paulo was
recognized as the most prestigious. Despite its expansion, access to higher
education is unevenly distributed. Nearly 90 percent of all institutions are
located in the Southeast and the South.

     Universities are self-regulating through representative councils but are
subject to oversight by the CFE. The basic unit of organization in each,
however, is the faculty (faculdade), an entity offering courses in a field of
concentration and setting comprehensive examinations in them. Many
institutions have but one faculty; a university must have at least five. The
faculties have traditionally been headed by the holder of an endowed chair,
but there is a strong trend toward a departmental system and professional
ranks on the United States model. About 10 percent of university teachers hold
terminal degrees in their disciplines, but overall less than 20 percent have
full-time appointments.

     The surge of applications for admission has been so great that
administrators seem concerned principally with making places for the new
students. The policy of public universities is to accommodate the greatest
number of students at the lowest cost by favoring expansion of faculties
having the least overhead, such as the humanities, while limiting the growth
of new faculties in expensive technology-intensive disciplines, although
graduates in these areas seem to be those most needed for the country's future
development. Competition for places, therefore, is stiffest in medicine and
engineering, which have the fewest places despite high demand for them. Fully
one-third of total enrollment in the late 1970s was in the humanities, where
low-cost expansion is possible. Having 20 percent of all students, economics
and business administration are the fastest growing faculties. Law, formerly
the most popular, has fallen to 10 percent of the total. Education and
biological sciences are in low demand; hence, admission to them is most
accessible.

     First-year students register for a cycle of basic studies before
proceeding into an area of exclusive concentration leading to a degree from
a particular faculty. Courses of study may vary from three to six years in
duration, depending on the degree program. A degree in medicine, for example,
requires the equivalent of six years of full-time work, law and engineering
five years, and the humanities three to four years. A specific sequence of
courses and the switch from comprehensive examinations to a credit system for
evaluating progress have reduced the incidence of "professional students" who
clutter universities in other Latin American countries.

     Formerly, examinations for entrance to specific faculties had minimum
cutoff scores that eliminated unqualified applicants for admission even if
available places went unfilled. As a result of the education reform, this
procedure was replaced by standardized computer-coded tests taken
simultaneously throughout the country; these allow the admission of as many
applicants as there are places available that year. Critics argue that the
transformation has meant quantitative change at the expense of quality
performances. The basic cycle of courses for first-year students may serve as
a remedial program to prepare less than qualified matriculants for specialized
studies in their chosen degree program.

Literacy and Adult Education

     The share of the population 10 years and older classified in census data
as "literate" rose form 40 percent in 1940 to nearly 70 percent in 1970. The
government campaign to combat illiteracy was intensified during the 1970s,
and by 1978 it was estimated that 77 percent of all Brazilians in that age
category were literate.

     Definitions of literacy differed, however, and officially indicated
literacy levels are regarded as optimistic by some observers who consider that
much of the population classed as literate either has never become fully
literate or has relapsed into illiteracy. Regional differences are also
considerable, as is the disparity between literacy in urban and rural areas.
By whatever yardstick literacy is measured, however, data show a significant
degree of progress accomplished by the literacy campaign in recent years.

     A massive nonformal program was inaugurated in 1970 with the founding
of the Brazilian Literacy Movement (Movimento Brasileiro de Alfabetizacao-
MOBRAL), which by mid-decade had offered instruction to several million
persons who had not been reached by the formal system. MOBRAL is government
sponsored but autonomous in its operation. Its literacy courses are five
months in duration and are usually conducted in the evening by teachers from
the regular school system. Individual programs are community based and
administered locally, MOBRAL confining itself to setting up courses and
providing financial support. Funds for the program come from lottery proceeds
and tax deductible contributions from private companies. Municipalities
failing to cooperate run the risk of a reduction in federal funding for other
projects.

     Several government and private vocational programs provide training for
young adults and the unemployed. The Intensive Manpower Training Program
(Programa Intensive de Preparacao de Mao-de-Obra-PIPMO) provides on-the-job
instruction to several hundred thousand employed in all sectors of the
economy. The privately administered National Service for Industrial
Apprenticeship (Servico Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial-SENAI) sponsors
programs for unemployed youth through apprenticeships in industrial
occupations as well as intensive vocational training for adults. A parallel
National Service for Commercial Apprenticeship (Servico Nacional de
Aprendizagem Comercial-SENAC) offers training in 90 different occupations in
commerce and the service sector. Programs are conducted in retail outlets and
hotels and restaurants owned and operated by SENAC. The work of both services
is supported by a voluntary payroll tax. Both are highly regarded for their
effectiveness and have contributed to Brazil's reputation as a world leader
in the area of nonformal kinds of vocational training. On the basis of their
success in industry and commerce, the National Service for Professional Rural
Training (Servico Nacional de Formacao Professional Rural-SENNAR) was
established in 1979 to extend vocational education to agricultural workers.

Health and Welfare

     Health hazard and, consequently, life expectancy vary greatly by kind
and incidence relative to socioeconomic background and region. According to
WHO, about 40 percent of all Brazilians lack adequate medical coverage. The
health care provided was regarded as substandard, and modern delivery systems
were concentrated in population centers of the South and Southeast.
Significant disparities were also noted in sanitation and nutrition. Brazil's
investment in medical and other health-related items was not commensurate
with the country's national wealth, amounting in the late 1970s to only about
2.5 percent of the gross national product.

     The federal government's Ministry of Health delegates responsibilities
to state and municipal authorities and coordinates their activities with those
of concerned ministries and agencies operating within the national health
system. While that ministry deals directly with collective programs, the
Ministry of Welfare and Social Security handles individual cases, the Ministry
of Education and Culture the training of medical personnel, and the Ministry
of Interior sanitation; state and local governments are charged with the
enforcement of regulations and the operation of community-based facilities.
A "grass-roots" health program supervised by the Ministry of Health aims at
providing low-cost, community-based treatment, including immunization,
nutritional guidance, and improved sanitation. One of the system's
shortcomings, however, is its apparent failure to rationalize the supply of
services.

     Parasitic diseases are blamed for about 16 percent of all deaths in
Brazil, and they are estimated to be the cause of about twice that rate of
mortality in the Northeast and the North. Some sources indicate that as much
as half of the population may suffer from some kind of parasitic infection,
and the rate approaches 100 percent in some areas of the Northeast. Other
significant causes of death are communicable diseases and malnutrition. The
latter is probably the principal factor in mortality among infants and small
children and contributes to death from other sources among people of all ages.
Circulatory diseases, accounting nationally for about one-quarter of all
deaths, and cancer are reported as the causes of death principally in urban
areas, perhaps because ailments of this sort often go undiagnosed in the
country. Respiratory ailments are believed responsible for another quarter
of all deaths; pneumonia and influenza are the most prevalent in the South.
Tuberculosis is endemic in all regions and most frequently affects those in
the economically productive age-groups.

     The most prevalent parasitic ailments are malaria, Chagas' disease, and
schistosomiasis. Of these potential vector-borne diseases, only malaria has
been successfully contained; about 94 percent of the cases reported are in
the Amazon region and Mato Grosso. Chagas' disease dehabilitates the victim
and, through heart damage, may eventually cause death. It carrier, a
blood-sucking insect called the barbeiro, infests the walls and thatched roofs
of wattle-and-daub houses in the countryside and reportedly infects millions.
Schistosomiasis causes severe liver damage and is contracted by eating snails
and shellfish that act as the fluke's host or by contact with polluted water.
Poor sanitation facilitates its transmission through untreated sewage. The
disease is endemic in the seaboard states but has been spread through
migration. Other serious vector-borne diseases include hookworm, trachoma,
filariasis, leishmaniasis, yaws, and yellow fever. Yellow fever, possibly
Brazil's most feared health hazard in earlier years, was reported eradicated
in 1958. The mosquito vector, aades aegypti, was reintroduced from outside
the country several years later, however, and scattered cases continue to be
reported.

     Among the communicable diseases, influenza and dysentery are the most
frequently reported. Next in order are tuberculosis, measles, whooping cough,
and syphilis. Measles was responsible for numerous deaths in the 1970s among
Indians in the Amazon lowlands, where it had been introduced by settlers.
Among other serious maladies are leprosy, typhoid, and tetanus, which are
dispersed throughout the country. The occurence of meningitis is occasionally
epidemic.

     An extensive program for the immunization of children has reduced the
incidence of diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough and virtually eliminated
smallpox and polio. Nevertheless, it is estimated that 80 percent of deaths
from parasitic and communicable diseases in the late 1970s could have been
prevented by appropriate intervention. Serious outbreaks of disease have
usually been necessary to bring about improvements in preventive measures.
Although inoculation is effective in reducing the incidence of diseases of
this nature, poor sanitation, unpotable water supply, and nutritional
deficiencies have been judged to be barriers to long-term improvement in
health conditions.

     The number of physicians practicing in Brazil in the late 1970s rose
sharply from the previous decade to approximately 80,000-about one physician
for 1,500 people nationally-but that figure was below the Latin American
average in terms of population served. Fully qualified medical personnel were
unevenly distributed across the country. Half of all physicians were
practicing in the Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro areas, and the number active
in the largest cities and state capitals was four times greater than the
number practicing in the rest of Brazil. Work in rural areas is often
carried out by paramedical personnel.

     In 1978 there were 9,700 hospitals and 5,700 clinics, the latter
generally staffed by paramedics. About 1,000 such facilities were added
annually in the late 1970s. Possessing about 500,000 beds and other places
available for patients, hospitals and clinics treated an average of 10.5
million persons a year during that period, about four times as many in urban
as in rural areas. The disparity in accessibility to hospital care was
particularly acute in obstetrical cases, which accounted for almost 20
percent of total admissions.

     Through programs administered by the federal government's National Food
and Nutrition Institute (Instituto Nacional de Alimentacao e Nutricao-INAN),
attempts were underway in the late 1970s to promote a better distribution of
foodstuffs to depressed areas of the country and to lower costs. Food
supplements to the "biologically vulnerable"-pregnant women, lactating
mothers, and small children in low-income groups-were also provided by the
agency.

     Welfare activities are administered by public and private agencies, whose
activities frequently overlap. During the 1970s, however, the federal
government assumed additional responsibilities for welfare and social and
health insurance through the upgrading of the Ministry of Welfare and Social
Security.

     Health insurance is arranged for urban occupational groups through trade
and professional unions in programs linked to those of the federal ministry.
Employees of the large public sector receive similar benefits through the
Social Security Welfare Institute for Public Servants (Instituto de
Previdencia e Assistencia dos Servidores do Estado-IPASE). Coverage was
extended to rural workers with the establishment of the Rural Worker Welfare
and Social Security Fund (Fundo de Assistencia e Previdencia do Trabalhador
Rural-FUNRURAL) in 1970. Although more limited in scope and effectiveness
than the other programs, FUNRURAL has made important improvements in rural
health care. In addition, the Medicament Center (Centro de Medicamentos-CEME),
a federal agency established in 1971, furnishes drugs free or at a reduced
cost to lower income groups. Its purchases constitute about half of the annual
sales of the entire pharmaceutical industry.

     Employers are required to deposit in controlled accounts a portion of
each employee's earnings as insurance against unemployment. Deposits may be
withdrawn on retirement, and accrued interest may be used for specific
purposes, such as the purchase of a dwelling. Additional forced savings
programs also operate under private and government auspices.

     The focal point of the public welfare program is the National Social
Security Institute (Instituto Nacional de Previdencia Social-INPS), which
operates under the supervision of the federal ministry. Contributions to the
INPS fund are determined on the basis of the worker's income; the employer is
required to match this amount. The fund provides compensation for sickness and
disability as well as a pension collectible from the age of 65 for men and 60
for women. The INPS also administers survivors' pensions and maternity
benefits.

                                    * * *

     There is a wealth of English-language material on Brazilian society.
General background works include Charles Wagley's An Introduction to Brazil,
Celso Furtado's The Economic Growth of Brazil, T. Lynn Smith's dated but still
useful Brazil: People and Institutions, and E. Bradford Burns' A History of
Brazil.

     Gilberto Freyre's New World in the Tropics and The Masters and the Slaves
are classic studies of Luso-Brazilian culture and mores. Daniel Gross' "The
Indians and the Brazilian Frontier" offers an analysis of the current
situation of the Amerindian population, and Betty Meggers' "Environment and
Culture in Amazonia" examines indigenous adaptation to the tropical forest
environment. Marvin Harris' Patterns of Race in the Americas and Donald
Pierson's Negroes in Brazil provide useful background information on
Afro-Brazilians and on Brazilian notions about race. Robert Conrad's The
Destruction of Brazilian Slavery is extremely instructive. Racial
Discrimination and Black Consciousness in Brazil by Thomas Sanders deals with
changes in the 1970s.

     For information on nineteenth- and twentieth-century immigrants the
reader might consult Sanders' Japanese in Brazil, Douglas Graham and Sergio
Buarque de Hollanda Filho's Migration, Regional and Urban Growth, and
Development in Brazil, and Thomas Holloway's "The Coffee Colono of Sao Paulo,
Brazil."

     Stanley Stein's Vassouras, Harry Hutchinson's Village and Plantation
Life in Northeastern Brazil, and Warren Dean's Rio Claro all describe
nineteenth- and twentieth-century plantations. More contemporary studies of
rural Brazil include Robert Shirley's The End of a Tradition, Allen Johnson's
Sharecroppers of the Sertao, and Maxine Margolis' The Moving Frontier. Manuel
de Correia Andrade's The Land and People of Northeast Brazil, Shepard Forman's
The Brazilian Peasantry, and William Saint's "The Wages of Modernization,"
detail conditions for small farmers, sharecroppers, and wage laborers.

     Thomas Merrick and Graham's Population and Economic Development in
Brazil is a comprehensive look at migration and labor movements;
unfortunately, most of their statistical data end with the 1970 census. Emilio
Moran's Developing the Amazon and "Ecological, Anthropological, and Agronomic
Research in the Amazon Basin" describe the 1970s settlement of the Amazon as
well as the state of the art of tropical forest agricultural production.
George Martine's "Adaptation of Migrants or Survival of the Fittest? A
Brazilian Case" examines rural-urban migration.

     Janice Perlman's The Myth of Marginality is a valuable description of
several Rio favelas. Richard Morse's From Community to Metropolis, a history
of Sao Paulo, is useful. Marcos G. da Fonseca's "An X-Ray of Brazilian Income
Distribution" and Guy Pierre Pfefferman and Richard Webb's The Distribution
of Income in Brazil discuss changes in income distribution. Kenneth Paul
Erickson's The Brazilian Corporative State and Working-Class Politics and
Sanders' Brazil's Labor Unions describe workers' efforts to organize. Dean's
The Industrialization of Sao Paulo 1880-1945 and Peter Evans' Dependent
Development describe the formation of the commercial and industrial elite.
Peter McDonough's Power and Ideology in Brazil sketches changing career
patterns and social mobility between the middle and upper classes. (For
further information and complete citations, see Bibliography.)