"Six families, interviewed during 1992, are used as case studies to demonstrate the different survival strategies used by poor households in a society where unemployment and underemployment are high, inflation is out of control, and social services are practically nonexistent. One significant factor in these survival strategies was the important role of women, not only in contributing to family income and care, but also in organizing and maintaining community activities to gather and extend their meager resources"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.