Organization of the family work in the rural area of the state of Pará: new arrangements on work organization and management of production units

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to present an interpretation of the work organization of family members in production units in the community of Nossa Senhora de Lourdes, identifying new strategies for production and family reproduction outside the context of natural resource constraints. The ideas presented here are a result of a survey conducted with farm families in the community of Nossa Senhora de Lourdes, located in   Itabocal settlement, municipality of Mãe do Rio, Northeastern Para. This is a study conducted from quantitative and qualitative approaches whose main analytical categories are family, work and their means of production. The main results show that the pattern of exploitation of the natural environment established by the slash and burn agriculture over the years in areas that make up the community have led to problems associated with the depletion of natural resources in family production units and thus influenced the arrangements that establish the scope of work.