Collective Consumption

Abstract

Beginning in 1974 Brazil’s largest industrial cities, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, were swept by a series of riots directed at the suburban railways. The riots were not only a sign of the growing discontent of the urban poor with their living conditions, but also a consequence of their loss since the military coup of 1964 of any adequate means of political expression. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to trace the immediate causes of the riots, and to indicate their political significance both for the government in power and for the participants themselves.