ISSN 2736-1721
Global Journal of Business Management ISSN 6731-4538 Vol. 8 (3), pp. 001-010, March, 2014. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Meanings of unemployment and industrial restructuring in Lavras, Brazil: A constructionist approach
Maria Cecília Pereira1* and Mozar José de Brito2
1Departament of Production Engineering University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
2Departament of Administration and Economy, University of Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Accepted 16 August, 2013
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate meanings produced by workers excluded from the industrial job market regarding unemployment, having focused on the understanding of the socially articulated relationship between industrial and labor restructuring, meanings of unemployment and subjectivity. We grounded our analysis on postulates of the constructionist approach. This theoretical/methodological choice facilitated the identification of two interpretative repertoires that act as a reference for the production of various meanings which in turn maintain strong symbolic ties with the notion of work as a central element in the life of a worker and the notion of unemployment as a social product of the process of industrial and labor restructuring and other specificities of both local and Brazilian society. We believe that the reflections provided here can be a reference for the development of knowledge and management practices linked to the dynamics, public and private, established in the Brazilian industrial system.
Key words: Constructionism, labor restructuring, subjectivity, unemployment.