“Talking” and “getting though”:

about the malleability of rules in Brazil

Abstract

The relationship between laws and social practices in Brazil has been object of frequent reflexion from social scientists, public authorities and even from common persons. Some analysts point to the malleability of the rules according to the contexts, while others argue in favor of the hardening of the codes. This article intends to present a contribution to this debate, examining these extreme positions in terms of cultural relativism. The research dates from more than a decade and involves fieldwork with application of questionnaires, informal interviews with open questions, and direct ethnographic observation. The main theoretical orientation consists in the consideration of certain social situations as “social dramas” (GLUCKMAN, 1987; TURNER, 1970, 1974, 1975; DAMATTA, 1979, 1985, 1993) in which there is a search for conflicts resolution. Our data demonstrate that the plasticity of the rules in Brazil is a cultural phenomenon, which acts both in the micro and in the macro spheres of the Brazilian society. They confirm also that this malleability is not limited to soften the effects of the laws. Frequently it corresponds to a hardening of them.