Estratégias de sobrevivência de agrupamentos familiares durante a pandemia de Covid-19 no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul: um estudo a partir de populações vulneráveis

Abstract

This PhD dissertation seeks to understand the survival strategies used by vulnerable families in the state of Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil – during the Covid-19 pandemic. For the purpose of this research project, families represent the “common man” and the “people”. The Covid-19 pandemic, declared by the World Health Organization in March 2020, impacted many areas of people’s lives, presenting different faces to society: while part of the population sought to adapt to the reality of home-office and online teaching modalities, other groups faced dilemmas in relation to the essential dimensions of human life, such as the decision between buying food or hand sanitizer and masks, looking for a job outside, or protecting themselves against the virus at home. This study used a mixed methods approach: sociological and epidemiological research methods were used. The epidemiological component of this research, one of its more analytical epistemological dimensions, involves the Epicovid-19 study, an epidemiological survey about the evolution of the pandemic in Brazil. In the sociological component, the guiding principle was the interpretation of the subject and its relationships of existence. To achieve this goal, we use central aspects of historical materialism as a theory and as a methodical guide. To understand the realities of the groups that were interviewed, and which are part of the research question, considering an exclusively qualitative approach, data collection was conducted through face-toface semi-structured interviews, as well as methodological aspects of Content Analysis. We found that the pandemic disproportionately punished vulnerable population groups, making evident the need for more comprehensive political and social measures targeted at these groups, which were proven to be the most affected, whether in percentage of contamination, or in the daily battles to continue their everyday lives.