THE family, like any other human institutions, has changed over time. And on each continent of the planet, in each specific civilization and culture, the structure of the organization family took formats that adjusted to economic and social conditions or even influenced such conditions. In the history of the formation of Brazilian society, especially in the period of colonization of Brazil, the family model that was formed was the modelpatriarchal.
The patriarchal model, as its name indicates, is characterized by having as its central figure the patriarch, that is, the "father", who is simultaneously head of the clan (of relatives with blood ties) and administrator of all economic extension and all social influence that family exercises. the extension
In Brazil, this family model began to form right away in the first century of colonization, 16th century, from the Portuguese cultural heritage, whose Iberian roots were, at that time, strongly linked to the past European medieval – not to mention the strong influence of the Muslim patriarchy model, from which the Portuguese absorbed many features.
The various Brazilian regions, initially divided into hereditary captaincies, were controlled by a few families who took over the economic development mechanisms in these regions. The most notorious example was that of sugar mill farms in Northeast Brazil, especially in Pernambuco. This model spanned centuries and, to this day, traces of this type of regional family domination can be seen in Brazil.
The patriarchal family model in Brazil thus generated a specific form of social organization, which had great implications for our political organization. It is about the “patronagepolitical”. You may have heard in classes about old republic the practice of "sponsorship" and "clientelism" by the so-called "colonels” — local political leaders. Well then, these practices that consist in “extending the private domains”, the family sphere, to the public sphere, to the domains of political activity, have their roots in patriarchy. The authors who best studied this phenomenon in the context of Brazilian history were GilbertoFreyre, Sergio Buarque de Holanda and RaymundoFaro.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiab/familia-patriarcal-no-brasil.htm
