David J. Hess is an anthropologist and associate professor in the science and technology studies department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Acknowledgments
Introduction 1
1 Brazilian Styles of Social Relations 31
1 The Brazilian Jeitinho: An Exercise in National Identity 35
2 Swimming in Cross-Cultural Currents 49
3 Small Town, Brazil: Heaven and Hell of Personalism 59
2 Race, Class, and Gender in a Changing Society 85
4 Rituals, Scandals, and Sex Crimes: Attempted Rape-Murders Across Two Generations 89
5 Morality and Transgression Among Brazilian Poor Families: Exploring Ambiguities 114
6 The Celebration of Our Lord of the Good End: Changing State, Church, and Afro-Brazilian Relations in Bahia 134
3 Ideologies and Cultures on an International Stage 155
7 Tupi or Not Tupi MPB: Popular Music and Identity in Brazil 159
8 Hierarchy, Heterodoxy, and the Construction of Brazilian Religious Therapies 180
9 The Brazilianization of Alcoholics Anonymous 209
4 Brazilian Society: Macrostructures in Comparative Perspective 237
10 Bureaucratic Rationality in Brazil and in the United States: Criminal Justice Systems in Comparative Perspective 241
11 For an Anthropology of the Brazilian Tradition: or "A Virtude esta no Meio" 270
Afterword: The Distorted Mirror - Brazil and the United States 293
Notes on Contributors 299
Index 303

Contains richly documented research articles that cover themes of interest to a wide range of academic audiences. An intellectual framework is provided for reading the collected scholarly articles based on DaMatta's challenging ideas,this is the basis for the collection's Tocquevillan journey through Brazil and then back to the United States.