This paper analyzes patterns of political mobility of a specific social stratum - immigrants and their descendants - in the western region of São Paulo, where coffee economy prevailed since the last quarter of the XIXth century. We investigate the main agents of local politics in seven cities: from the traditional oligarchic regime characteristic of the "Old Republic" to the processes of political transformation in the thirties that resulted in the post-war re-democratization, when a recomposition of local political elites takes place.
Ethnic boundaries; Political elites; Local power; Immigration; Western São Paulo
