This article analyzes egocentered networks of social support in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo using data from a survey carried out in 2008. Following the results of a previous research about personal networks in São Paulo, we investigate the main characteristics, dynamics and conditioning factors of the networks, evidencing strong regularities along the life cycle and between social groups. Regardless of those regularities, the results indicate intense relational heterogeneity inside each social group, organized both among the poor and the non-poor by the homophily and localism of the networks, generating strong consequences for the reproduction of social inequalities.
Personal networks; egocentered networks; social support; inequalities
