ABSTRACT
In every culture, families have initial responsibility for socializing their children. It isthe duty of the family to furnish at least minimal conditions for their offsprings’ physical survival and psychological, intellectual, and social development. The structure and basic value system of Brazilian families have been weakened by repeated economic crises and the social transformations associated with development. Since the “economic miracle” of the 1970s, Brazil’s economy has undergone successive recessions that have impoverished the wage-earning classes.
