The Socialization and Cultivation of Children in Economic Elite Families in Recife : An Investigation of Family Educational Strategies

Abstract: Brazil is a country with great social disparities, in which most often those who are poor stay poor, and those who are rich stay rich. While literature on the former is extensive, the lifestyles of the latter is a highly understudied research area. An investigation of educational strategies which elite families formulate to ensure that children are appropriately equipped for life after leaving the parents’ home, could shed some light on the reproduction of social class in Brazil. For this purpose, this thesis investigates aspects of these educational strategies, based on a case study of economic elite families in the North-Eastern city of Recife. The focus of this investigation, however, is on educational strategies and not social reproduction itself. Based on qualitative interviews conducted in a field study in Recife, the investigation enters the homes and lives of 16 families pertaining to the economic elite. The thesis elaborates on themes such as families’ socio-economic background, schooling and extracurricular activities, social relationships, education and transmission of values at home, and the meaning of being upper-class among poverty. The findings suggest that elite life in Recife is limited to the same social spaces, such as schools or neighbourhood, and that influential factors in the education of children are their mothers and international experience. The thesis concludes that while educational strategies may be formulated differently by families with different backgrounds and resources, globalization and current social transformations are a shared experience in the economic elite in Recife, upon which families formulate their educational strategies accordingly.