The object of this case study was the way of living of 20 families living in Mapele, Metropolitan Area of Salvador, Bahia. It was conducted by the commitment with complexity, the network of meanings and the ecological perspective. The method used for the collection of data was: participant observation, field diary and semi-structured interviews. Results, presented as sceneries and trajectories, were organized around the following themes: yesterday and today; family daily life; domestic violence; a fisher life; children play. These themes leaded to considerations about the community way of living from a dialectical point of view related to the meanings of having or not having family resources. To overcome the colonialist position, only microsystem, macrosystem and mesosystem structural and cultural changes can offer a network of meanings that could include everybody, the ones that possess and the ones that don't possess, so that anybody could choose the ways he/ she wants to follow.