ABSTRACT
In 1970, an oversimplified picture of rural Brazil would refer to a very modest performance from the standpoint of total production, which was then determined by an extremely primitive technological foundation. This chapter discusses some of the main processes and contexts of rural change that have surfaced over the years, in order to paint a picture of the seismic rupture with the past. It focuses on a journey that moves from the agrarian Brazil of half a century ago to a present-day profoundly reshaped rural context—in all aspects of social life. The chapter suggests that various drivers of change to describe not just the passage towards a ‘new world’ but, in fact, to show that the rural Brazil of the past which strongly moulded the culture and social mentalities ingrained in the Brazilian psyche is gradually vanishing. It seeks to demonstrate the existence of abundant evidence, both historical and empirical, of a transition that has taken place.
