Favela is a sequel to The Myth of Marginality (1976) as Perlman attempts to retrace the steps she took while living among favela residents between 1968 and 1969. She relates developments in Rio de Janeiro including the loteamentos, a vast community of squatter plots on the western outskirts of the city; and the conjuntos, characterized as cement apartment complexes built by the government to accommodate evicted favela inhabitants. She describes her experiences revisiting the communities and individuals she had come to know previously, addressing specifically how conditions in the neighborhoods have changed over the past 40 years. She is only able to locate and contact 41 percent of the 750 respondents to the original study, and one of the three favelas, Catacumba, has been entirely demolished.
Perlman then presents a list of ten central factors, which she believes to be the largest contributors to the high rates of violent crime in Rio de Janeiro based on her personal observations. These can be collectively summarized as the confluence of endemic structural inequality, a lucrative drug market, vigilantism, divisive media outlets, and a corrupt police force. Perlman exclaims that together, these harmful actors wage a "war against the poor" through their lack of concern for those caught in the crossfire of the conflict between them. Perlman finds that since the period of military dictatorship, interviewees' belief in the importance and validity of their own civic engagement has grown exponentially; however, faith in government has declined at roughly the same rate. Moreover, actual reported civic engagement has remained comparatively unchanged over the 40-year period.
