O trabalho para além das estatísticas: os sentidos da experiência laboral de moradores de um bairro de baixa renda do Nordeste brasileiro.

Abstract

In this Thesis, we sought to understand the meanings of work contained in the speeches of residents of the 17 de Março neighborhood, Aracaju/SE. Its achievement was guided by the problem: what meaning(s) is(are) attributed to work by residents of a low-income neighborhood in Northeast Brazil, in line with their work experiences and the recent context of capitalism in the country? The theoretical discussion is based on a critical, Marxist, structuralist and spatial view of the process of reproduction of social relations of production, changes in the world of work and the relationship between living and working in the context of the development/crisis of the capitalist system. Understanding that such a discussion is essential for the work meaning process, the thesis starts from the subject whose economic and socio-spatial reality is determined by his place, or non-place, in contemporary capitalism. Thus, as a social subject, their worldviews are determined, destroyed and rebuilt in the context of transformations and contradictions of world capitalism. Given the above, seeking to achieve the objective of the Thesis, the empirical research was carried out in an area of Aracaju/SE, whose socio-historical specificities are closely related to the precarious face of capitalist processes of social division of labor and socio-spatial segregation in the context of urban expansion that occurred on the periphery of the capitalist periphery. It should also be noted that the research carried out has a qualitative nature and was made possible through the analysis of the speeches of 18 workers, residents of the neighborhood in question. This number of respondents meets the objective of the research, since it complied with the theoretical saturation criteria of the data. The thesis was also supported by bibliographical and documentary research and data from the CadÚnico databases. It should be noted that the results obtained confirm what is pointed out by the literature on the relationship between living and working, which highlight issues related to the ideas of socio-spatial (in)justice and the right to the city. The analyzed subjects give a vital and positive meaning to work, but their work experiences and life stories are marked by a reality of deprivation of social rights and the exercise of citizenship. In summary, their views on work/working are affiliated with the hegemonic ideology, unconsciously assimilating current basic principles of Brazilian society as guiding their statements and their actions about their present and their future in the world of work. Examples include the logic of meritocracy and freedom of decision/choice in the market. However, considering their experiences and work experiences in the face of the material, historical reality that they are subjected to, there were disagreements, also unconscious, of their statements with the hegemonic discourse, revealing the recognition of their limited chances of competition in the labor market and effective transformation of their lives.