A trajetória da família Silva e as estratégias para driblar a pobreza.

Abstract

The thesis presented here bears the title “The Trajectory of the Silva Family and Strategies to Overcome Poverty.” The purpose of the thesis is to analyze poverty as a social construct. To do so, using various data collection techniques and drawing on sociological analytical clues, we tracked the journey of a family—the Silva family. Like many others, this family left rural life behind, seeking better living conditions in an urban setting. The central question guiding our research is: what strategies and resources can a family bring forth to overcome the limitations imposed by poverty? With our study, we aim to contribute to contemporary sociology’s understanding of the social phenomenon of poverty. Within this perspective, we observe that in our contemporary society, the poor are perceived as remnants of capitalist economic dynamics and the globalization process. They face stigmatization and social exclusion. Our analysis begins with the hypothesis that this process deprives these actors of rights such as access to education, public health, transportation, housing, and other fundamental social rights. To conduct our study, we will follow the trajectory of a poor family that migrated from the Sertão region of Paraíba to live in the outskirts of Campina Grande (PB). Using life history methodology (Schütze, 2014; Rosenthal, 2014; 2017; Brandão, 2007; Bertaux, 2010; 2014), we will explore the experiences of three generations of this family, starting in the 1960s—the decade when the marriage of the couple that came before the broader family nucleus took place. The data for our study come from the narratives of grandparents, parents, and grandchildren. We will compare these narrative data with statistical information on poverty in Brazil from institutions such as the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA), Oxfam Brazil, the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (DIEESE), and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal). By cross-referencing these data, we hope to determine whether the experiences of this family align with the information on poverty propagation. We believe that the path taken in our research, where analytical categories from social theory intersect with empirical data from collective life, will help identify the obstacles and potentialities families face to overcome poverty in Brazil, concluding that combating poverty depends on actions by public authorities to provide the poor with decent work, full access to fundamental social rights, such as education, health, housing and public transport.