FATALISM AND HEALTH IN THE BRAZILIAN STATE OF SÃO PAULO

Abstract

The literature portrays fatalism as a behaviour, expressed through inaction, based on the perceived inability of the individual or group to overcome social and economic deprivation. The attitude of fatalism was found to affect the poor in some industrial countries, and to be widely characteristic of populations in developing countries. Research on fatalism among mothers of infants in Northeastern Brazil, where infant mortality rates are very high, produced conflicting results, with some researchers reporting high levels of fatalistic attitudes, and others identifying the absence of fatalistic behaviours, due to strong socio-cultural networks of support among the poor. In this paper, using multiple regression analysis, I argue that fatalism among the adult population in São Paulo is relatively low due to extensive social support, and further that social support acts to prevent and/or reduce fatalistic attitudes.