A number of different theoretical perspectives could be brought to bear on the economic and cultural development of a country such as Brazil, and one such perspective is known as dependency theory. Dependency here refers to the theory that development involves the dependency of the Third World on the developed world in a relationship defined by the exploitation of resources. Dependency theory was developed as an explanation for the patterns of development found in Latin America, finding that this pattern had been conditioned by the incorporation of the region into the capitalist mode of production. Development and underdevelopment are seen in terms of dependency theory as part of the same process and not as separate entities. A consideration of this view will be applied to the picture of Brazil that emerges from the book Samba by Alma Guillermoprieto, a book descriptive of Brazilian society and culture as well as of economic conditions facing much of the people.
Brazil is a gigantic country that offers startling geographic and socioeconomic contrasts. The culture that has developed in this area, constituting the fifth largest nation in the world, is marked by the use of Portuguese as the official language and the mixture of Portuguese and Brazilian cultures makes this area subtly different from its neighbors with their Hispanic heritage. Brazil is also the largest Roman Catholic nation in the world. The nation is also made up of many immigrant groups from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including millions of Italians, Germans, Slavs, Arabs, Japanese, and others, all of whose descendants today speak Portuguese (Nyrop xxi).
Since World War II, Brazil has become less dependent on Europe through a process of economic growth and diversification. This refers largely to economic dependence on Europe and North America and to the finding that it has been reduced, but this reduction in dependence has also take...