The present research was a field experiment exploring the relationship of literacy to certain modernization variables. Data were collected in five rural communities in Minas Gerais, Brazil, in July 1966. The communities were matched as closely as possible on population, literacy rate, distance to an urban center, community institutional development, and external contact. Four communities were randomly chosen for literacy education programs; the fifth was the control group. Analysis of variance between illiterate enrollees and illiterate nonenrollees in the four treatment communities was based on the variables of empathy, achievement motivation, cosmopolitanism, mass media exposure, and political knowledge. No significant differences were found for either males or females. Hypotheses predicting an association between literacy program enrollment and training and increases in the five variables were not supported. Lower levels of modernization found among illiterate adults apparently will not discriminate between literacy program enrollment and nonenrollment; but, despite the insignificant differences reported here, there were indications that a full-length program would produce a significant effect. (Six tables and 58 references are included.) (author/ly)