Rural Sociological Research in Brazil.

This paper presents a general view and evaluation of rural research in Brazil. The beginnings of rural research and the main orientations during its early development are reviewed. Three fields are then analyzed more thoroughly: community studies, regional investigations, and problem oriented research. Although relatively few in number, the community studies have nevertheless served to illustrate the most varied types of social structure in Brazil. General regional surveys are numerous and are concerned principally with cultural and ecological aspects of society; most of Brazil's varied regions have been studied in this fashion. Problem-oriented research, on the other hand, is fairly recent and as yet unsystematic. The main problem areas that have been emphasized are: immigration and assimilation, internal migrations, messianic movements, and more recently, class relations and land tenure problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]