The aim of this article is to analyse the conditions causing a specific form of rural marriage in the state of São Paulo, in wich the bride is the traditionally “kidnapped” with the conssent of both families. This form of marriage is associated with the living conditions of rural workers. These conditions cause the impossibility of the working family to artiulate the institutionally defined interests of all its members. When a family member, most frequently young women, becomes either unemployedor underemployed, her position in the family then becomes problematic. The article also focuses on those women’s world views and their reactions to those alienating living conditions.
Rural workers; working family; rural marriage; kidnapping