Families, Gender Relations and Social Change in Brazil

Families, Gender Relations and Social Change in Brazil

Introduction

The concept of family and family life has evolved significantly from the traditionally hierarchical and patriarchal structure to innovative modern patterns.

Theories and Methods Used

• Feminism provides more plausible explanations and solutions to controversial issues.
• Postmodernism to explain challenges facing the contemporary family in Brazil.
• Scholars review existing literature on the topic to accomplish these objectives.

Key Points/Findings

• The Brazilian family has evolved dramatically include new trends and family arrangements such as legalizing abortion, single-parent families, and other innovative structures.
• The tension between radical and conservative fractions compromise efforts to translate current family notions into legislations and policies.

Social Ramifications of the Findings

• The legal prohibition of abortion leads to severe inequalities in Brazilian society.
• Legacy tensions inhibit the creation of a robust domestic violence strategy.

Lessons Learned from the Reading

• Progress in social politics is closely linked to the social movements and collective feminist struggles.
• Class and race issues remain a significant barrier to family-focused laws and policies.

Formal or Informal Implications of the Article

• Domestic violence suspects should be accurately judged to minimize domestic violence problems.
• Proposals for supporting the Maria da Penha law rules must be made.

Article Review

The Authors’ Thesis

Adelman and De Azevedo (2012) sought to briefly examine historical forces that are shaping family life and the concept of family in relation to Brazilian society and culture. The central argument of the brief is that the notions of family and family life have undergone significant transformations from the traditionally hierarchical and patriarchal structure to innovative modern patterns. The authors further assert that transforming these changes into laws and policies remains a serious challenge. They draw on the present tendencies and inconsistencies in the family arrangements revealed by the Brazilian family policy to support their thesis. The authors argue that families faced constant “family hardships” rounded off in the late twentieth-century social and cultural changes century in Brazil (Adelman and De Azevedo, 2012). The traditional Brazilian family has been replaced with new unique forms such as single parenthood, heterosexual unions, collaboration, and other configurations.

Theories and Methods Used

The authors examine Brazil’s historical vicissitudes as a form of representation and society. Adelman and De Azevedo (2012) approach this issue from a feminist theoretical perspective. They believe that this theory provides more plausible explanations and solutions to controversial issues such as abortion and new family arrangements such as gay and lesbian couples. Besides that, the authors draw on postmodernism to explain the challenges facing the contemporary family in Brazil. The scholars conduct a comprehensive review of existing literature on the topic to accomplish these objectives.

Main Points Used to Support the Thesis

The authors discuss three specific issues, the Maria da Penha Domestic Violence Law and legalizing abortion. They also discuss a new debate on a bill established to offer legal status to homosexual relations. Authors also provide testimonies to the tensions between mechanisms supporting restrictive family definitions, connected with the dominance of men and heterosexuality. One key point of the brief is that the Brazilian family has evolved dramatically include new trends and family arrangements such as legalizing abortion, single-parent families, and other innovative structures. The concept of heterogamy falls within these ‘innovative’ family arrangements. The term describes a marital relationship between two people who exhibit marked differences in a specific criterion. The couples may differ based on their racial or ethnic background, religion, gender, and sexual orientation, among other characteristics. Heterogamy is the complete opposite of homogamy, which refers to a union in which both partners are identical based on a specific criterion. Homosexual and lesbian couples are perhaps the best examples of heterogamy in contemporary Brazilian society, and other countries throughout the world are gay marriages.

Another finding is the tension