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 Chapter 1: An lntroduction to the Social Sciences
Poverty in Brazil
During the 1980s, anthropologist
Nancy Scheper-Hughes participant-
observed women living in a squatter
town in northeast Brazil. Since the
1950s, giant, mechanized sugar plan-
tations had forced subsistence farmers
off their lands. To survive, many
former farmers became day labourers
on the plantations. Male labourers
were paid $10 per week, and female
labourers $5, while a family of four
needed $40 per week to meet basic
food needs. In addition, sugar cane
had displaced other crops such as beans, making it
difficult to obtain a balanced diet with locally grown
foods. Widespread malnutrition resulted. Many rural
men eventually left their wives and families behind
and moved to cities in search of work, sending money
home and visiting occasionally. The structure of local
communities was severely disrupted.
During the same period, the national statistics
for Brazrl did not reflect the local experience. Brazil
experienced a tremendous economic expansion. Its
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita (the total
wealth produced by a country's economy divided by
total population) had risen from $648 in l97l to
$4508 in 1993. Moreover, figures published by the
Brazilian government showed that, in 1993, for every
1000 live births, 57 died in the first year of life. (For
comparison, Canada's infant mortality rate at this time
was 7.1 per thousand live births.) Although high by
comparison with other industrialized nations, the rate
was falling, andBrazil began to enjoy an international
reputation as a nation rising to "developed" status.
But what, Scheper-Hughes wondered, was life like
for the subsistence families whose livelihoods had been
destroyed by the sugar plantations? To what extent did
national statistics hide the grim reality of their lives?
Scheper-Hughes participant-observed a northeastern
community she called Bom )esus. (Note: "Bom fesus"
is a fictitious name. Anthropologists rarely reveal the
o
D
o
m
o
{
e
tr
Figure 1.3 Brazil's proudest export, an Embraer Regional Jet,
illustrates the high degree of technological and industrial
expertise that has developed in parts of this formerly poor
country. What groups in Brazilian society might benefit from
new high-tech industries like this one? Which gr0ups would be
largely unaffected?
identity of the communities they observe. Anthro-
pologists believe that giving participant communities
anonymity will encourage participants to be more
open and frank with observers.)
Because many of the adult males lived outside
the community, Scheper-Hughes was able to enjoy a
closer relationship with the women than would other-
wise have been possible. They told her about their
married lives, and she discovered that they had
endured much worse conditions than the national
statistics implied. A study of the complete reproduc-
tive lives of 100 post-menopausal women showed
that, on average, each had seen 4.7 of her offspring
die. Scheper-Hughes visited cemeteries and consulted
local registry books and church records to find out
how many babies had died. As mentioned earlier, the
national infant mortality rate was 57 per 1000. For the
northeastern region, the rate was 116 per 1000.
In 1987, through her analysis, Scheper-Hughes
discovered that the rate in Bom Jesus was 211 and had
risen to 493 during the worst year.
Scheper-Hughes also discovered that-like some
unemployed and impoverished workers in developed
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 Chapter 1: An lntroduction to the Social Sciences
that rve think intuitively to be true? Now try
ansrvering the question.
In many cases, social scientists have
demonstrated that what the majority, or a
significant number of people, might believe
to be true cannot be verified by evidence; it
therefore cannot be accepted as true. Many
people might say, "I know intuitively that
rvhen a society brings in the death penalty,
the murder rate declines." However, the social
scientists who researched this issue found
contradictory evidence. The murder rate in
thct does not decline. By doing their research
and testing our intuitive beliefs, anthropolo-
gists and other social scientists play avaluable
role. In testing the commonly held beliefs of a
population, they help us see whether or not
rvhat we "know intuitively" is in fact true.
Comparing Cultures
A major function of anthropologists is to
our knowledge of what it is to be
increase
human by noting and comparing cultural
differences. For example, anthropologists are
interested in the question of kinship. Kinship
is a family relationship based on what a
culture considers a family to be. Almost every
culture considers that you have a kinship rela-
tionship with your sister or brother. Other
sibling relationships raise questions, however.
Is a half-sister or half-brother your kin? A
stepsister or stepbrother? A half-brother or
half-sister born to one of your parents outside
marriage? Different cultures have different
rules about which of these relationships are
truly kinship. Most Western cultures would
accept that two children with the same
mother but different fathers are kin. The
Lakher people of Myanmar (formerly known
as Burma), however, believe that two such
children are not relatives at all.
Kinship is therefore based on cultural
concepts. Anthropologists have concluded
that human cultures define the concept of
kinship in three ways: mating (marriage),
birth (descent), and nurturance (adoption).
We acquire kin through our parents, through
our marriage partners, and through those we
choose to bring into our families. But within
these three broad categories, most cultures
are fairly selective regarding who fits, and
who does not. In many societies, children
whose parents are not married by religious,
legal, or accepted social definitions may be
rejected as kin by some of their biological rel-
atives. Marriage and mating are not, there-
fore, identical principles in kinship defini-
tion. Similarly, adopted children enjoy the
same rights as their non-adopted siblings in
most cultures, because nurturance and
descent are equally regarded as definitions of
kinship. Foster children, however, do not
receive the same rights, because their foster
parents are not considered real kin. Kinship is
a complex matter, subject to great differences
of interpretation.
Most human societies are patrilineal. This
means that members organize their families
through their father's line. Characteristics of this
approach include women taking their husband's
family name on marriage, and all children tak-
ing their father's family name. Other cultures are
matrilineal, with the mother's line being pre-
eminent. Among the Navajo people of the
American Southwest, for example, the tradition-
al family unit consists of the head-mother, her
husband, and some of their children together
with their spouses. Although the head-mother's
husband is normally chief livestock herder and
spokesperson for the family in dealing with out-
siders, the head-mother's opinions usually pre-
vail. She is identified with the land, and all resi-
dence rights are traced through her.
Anthropologists use the term "fictive
kinship" to describe the practice of acknowl-
edging as kin people who are not biologically
related. Godparents are a form of fictive kin-
ship, in which parents choose an individual to
take a parental interest in the child's religious
upbringing.
Kinship principles define a number of
important rules in a culture. These include

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