THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DEPENDENCE BETWEEN LANDLORD AND SHARECROPPER IN NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL

Contrasting beliefs and attitudes held by sharecroppers and their land lord on a fazenda in Northeastern Brazil reveal a tendency to split on e another into positively and negatively idealized images. Sharecroppe rs who ambivalently seek patronage construct good vs. bad landlords/pa trons. The landlord, defensive about envy and hostility among sharecro ppers, constructs good vs. bad tenants/workers. Theory from the Kleini an school of psychoanalysis concerning envy, splitting, and idealizati on provides a framework for interpreting ethnographic case materials.