Condições de vida da população de baixa renda nas áreas metropolitanas do Rio de Janeiro e Porto Alegre

Resumo

This article is a summary of two works that were done at the "Departamento de Estudos e Indicadores Sociais" (DEISO) of IBGE, in the period of February, 1977 - April, 1978. Their purpose was to investigate the life conditions of low income groups in the metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre.

Those areas have been selected on account of the increasing importance of metropolitan areas as poles of productive activity concentration and thus, of labor force attraction in the economic development process, differently from what occurs in rural areas. Concerning the definition of the social group, the low income criterion has been adopted a& its main determinant, rather than the way of insertion into the productive process. The choice has been determined by the difficulty in characterizing the last alternative due to the heterogeneity of forms in the classification of the workers: they could be defined as either semi-qualified or unqualified manual workers and could be tied to both capitalistic production and other subordinate forms of production organization, within the brazilian economic system (simple production of goods, domestic production, etc.).

The characterization of the theme as a subject of discussion implies the perception of divergent and even conflicting trends and positions in its approach. However, the analysis of the terms and ideological aspects of the discussion, as well as of the interests and oppositions in question, is beyond the purpose of that presentation. Its basic aim is to show that the topic - life conditions - has become a medium for expressing those divergences and must be used under a social control perspective and also as an instrument for criticizing the comprehensive system.