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Date: Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 10:56 AM
Subject: [Networkedlabour] Special Issue, in Portuguese, on Work, Precarity and Social Uprisings
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This is the Google Translation of the Editorial Introduction to the Revista Critica de Ciencias Sociais, Portugal, No. 103.
The GTrans is uncorrected, so readers should not be surprised that the name 'Estanque' is translated as 'Waterproof'.
Now read on...
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Contents
103 | 2014: Labour precarity and social rebellions
Introduction
Work, precariousness and social rebellions
Elysium Waterproof and Hermes Augusto Costa
p. 3-8
Text | Bibliography | References | About the authors
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1
as is known, the project of Western modernity became, from its
beginnings, the close relationship between wage labor and the broader
social system. Over
the course of nearly three centuries the major historical
transformations and civilizational achievements left the world of work,
so that the progress made in the economy, institutions and building the
rule of law as their main foundation and transformative forces based
social relations in production conflict and the capital / labor. You
must remember all this historical legacy to develop an updated and
critical approach to the world of work, identifying its contradictions,
old and new, featuring current contours that are emerging in the world
of work, pointing out the advances and setbacks in terms of rights and with all that, trying to understand the latest trends that are
occurring in this relationship - which remains tense and contradictory -
between economy and society, between the sphere of labor and social and
socio-political system as a whole.
2e
precisely in the light of these concerns that the present volume of the
Journal of Critical Social Science intends to launch a sociological
look at the current landscape of labor relations and the latest cycle of
social movements in the global context, with special attention to the
case of Portugal and the region Mediterranean
on one side, and the case of Brazil, on the other hand, trying to
analyze the connections between social cohesion and fragmentation of
labor relations. The
most recent processes of flexibility and precariousness of working
conditions, particularly in Europe, are interpreted as factors that
boosted the trigger social unrest and rebellions, but these, in general,
transcend the specific sphere of the world of work. The texts collected in this issue bear witness to several outbreaks of
tight labor markets show theoretically and empirically and precarious
forms of labor conflicts and make room for the understanding of social
rebellion as broader social reaction strategy.
3In
the first place, it is to recall some of the opposing arguments
regarding the place / the centrality of labor in society, who have been
on the agenda over the last decade (Toni, 2003; Costa, 2008; Waterproof
and Costa, 2012a; 2012b). In
previous work online, we believe that the analysis that were
precipitated defended the thesis of the "end of work" or even diagnose
the general fragmentation of wage society in a "no class of non-workers /
the" (André Gorz); this,
despite recognizing the minor work in defining the structure of
individual identity and their increasing difficulty in securing social
bonds (Claus Offe, Jeremy Rifkin, Ulrich Beck, Dominique Méda, Richard
Sennett). It
is true that the work has become an increasingly scarce as well, but it
not only did not withdraw his importance, as highlighted by its role as
an affirmation of the dignity of the worker and human rights factor. Even
considering the potentialities of the informational society (Manuel
Castells), it is necessary to emphasize, in line with International
Labour Organisation (ILO), that "labor is not a commodity" and that
there is no alternative to the civilization of the work, although forms prove increasingly unstable and multifaceted. But
as several scholars have called attention, the work remains central to
the social struggles and the current political struggle. We
must therefore rediscover and reinforce its role as cement of society,
ie, as a decisive space in defense of social cohesion and citizenship,
revitalizing the mechanisms of dialogue and consensus through a new
social contract that consolidates democracy (Castel, 1998; Santos, 1998; Waterproof and Costa, 2013).
4But
the idea of precariousness is strongly rooted both in speech and in
academic studies, both in the experience of activists concrete practices
of participants in the labor market. Therefore,
it is an unquestionable fact that wage labor became the scene of
negative individualism and insecurity and that is losing consistency,
stability and even dignity. Throughout
the first decade of the twenty-first century new ways of working have
become increasingly more routes precarizante sense, both in Portugal and
in Europe and on a global scale: green receipts (or rather fake green
receipts), contracts term,
temporary work, part time work, subcontracting, informal economy are
just some of the new modalities of work morphologies (Antunes, 2013)
that, often, flow into the phenomenon of unemployment. Of
course systems (working conditions, labor legislation, collective
bargaining, etc..) Labor relations are not uniform among the countries
of the European Union (EU), but in many countries are identifiable
trends of degradation that affect with greater intensity the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly young people and women segments. For
example, in the field of labor income, the cuts between / the staff /
the public / the the most fragile economies (Greece, Ireland and
Portugal are some of the examples referred to within the EU), associated
with a whole package liberalization
measures and "adjustment" for the benefit of capital (and against
labor) constitute a huge setback in the field of labor and social rights
(Sealed and Costa, 2012a, 2012b; Costa, 2012), intensifying the
transfer of income from labor to capital (Leite et al., 2013).
5In
face these forms of degradation of wage labor, social contestation
manifests itself today in a variety of forms of collective action
present in different geographic quadrants. In
the European context, it is almost an inevitability associate
collective protest against austerity policies that have produced
destabilizing impacts on labor markets and strengthened asymmetries in
labor relations, increasing insecurity and dependence on those who work
(and who can not get a job) . But
also in the context of North Africa (eg Egypt) and Latin America
(particularly Brazil) true centers of social rebellion emerged, calling
for social rights, freedom, transparency in institutions and more
authenticity in political and social democracy. In
all these frameworks are facing a cycle of global protests which
eventually highlighted a "return to materialism" (Sealed, Soeiro and
Costa, 2013), whether we look to the high unemployment figures for cuts
in wages and social benefits, to the weakening of the social functions of the state, to increase the
"precariat" or threats to the middle class (emerging or declining).
6E, rightly, about the precariat which address the two contributions that open this special issue. On
the one hand, Guy Standing, after a classification and characterization
of precariat as "class construction," argues that it incorporates a
real transformative potential, which implies a struggle for
redistribution of access to basic goods or assets to a "good life "based
on a socio-economic security, control weather, on the use of quality
spaces, knowledge (or instruction) society, namely financial and
financial capital. On
the other hand, considers the Ruy Braga precariat as synonymous with
precarious proletariat, which incorporates the fraction of the working
class or disqualified semiqualificada and subjected to high rates of
employee turnover. Specifically,
analyzes the formation of post-Fordist precariat in the call center
industry in Brazil (by the way the industry has created more formal jobs
in 2000), giving an account of the relationship between
automobilization workers, union action and federal public policy
7Num
Secondly, the texts of Elysium Waterproof, Iside Gjergji and Roberto
Véras accentuate the social rebellion associated with the world of work
component. Elysium
Waterproof, first, discusses the relationship between precariousness
and social movements in Portugal and in Brazil in the period between
2011 and 2013, elucidating trends, similarities and contrasts between
these two realities. In essayistic registration, it is argued that on the basis of these movements prevails "radicalism" or "drive" middle class. It
discusses and clarifies the concept of "middle class" - which is here
conceived under a new perspective - and point up the internal
segmentation of this category and the potential of emerging segments in
the current status quo in the complaint or dispute of programs Austerity coming barring the expectations and ambitions of emerging
layers of an educated youth as clear ties to the middle class.
8Por
Moreover, Iside Gjergji seeks to highlight the role of labor protests
nature (or, if you will, the socio-economic roots of the Egyptian
uprising of 2011), which is usually secundarizado by the scholars of the
"Arab Spring", which tend to designate the Egyptian
revolution as a revolution-Facebook, I mean, one instigated
sociopolitical phenomenon (especially through social networks)
essentially middle class youth with a high level of education. It
is argued, however, that at the heart of the Egyptian uprising are
socio-economic factors, and it is therefore crucial to identify some key
steps to consider that the growing Egyptian labor movement is a
Primatial element of long-term revolutionary process. Still
further, Véras Roberto de Oliveira, with reference to the Brazilian
context, analyzes the conflicts and negotiations on workers, unions,
employers, government, Justice, Ministry of Labor, among other actors,
established during the construction of Hydroelectric Power Plants Jirau and Santo Antônio, situated in the north. By identifying the positions of these actors, proposes a set of reflections on the possibilities and limits of union activity.
9A
close this thematic issue, the final two contributions associate the
idea of protest against austerity policies, a very present reality in
the European context. On
the one hand, Maria da Paz Campos Lima and Antonio Martin Artiles begin
by providing a framework of literature on new social movements versus
approaches on labor relations and unionism or identifying their (dis)
encounters and their different logics, whether calling attention
to the creation of conditions (under the European protest cycles) for a
link between materialistic concerns and metapolíticas claims. Alongside
this macro-sociological analysis focused on collective action, the
authors examine in micro level, the individual participation in the
protests, based on the European Social Survey 2012. Doing so, highlight
trends, profiles, motivations and factors explaining
this individual participation, so aferirem to what extent there is a
parallel with the conditions and motivations associated with forms of
collective action. Moreover, Hermes Augusto Costa, Hugo Dias and José Soeiro analyze the phenomenon of strike in the context of austerity. Apart
from offering sociological perspectives on strike, related to the
notions of democracy and sociojurídica regulation, with (s) ideology (s)
and tensions between individual and collective action, and controversy
with scales or with temporalities and results indicate the quantitative expression of strikes in Portugal. The
case study analyzing portrays a bold strike in the context of austerity
reinforced in a particular sector and precarious - Health workers Line
24 - which allows them to assess both the challenges facing the union
action, whether new forms of organization of social conflict.
Top of page
Bibliography
Antunes, Ricardo (2013), The meanings of work: essay on the affirmation and negation of the work. Coimbra: Almedina / CES.
Castel, Robert (1998), The metamorphosis of the social question. Petropolis: Publisher Voices.
Costa, Hermes Augusto (2008), Global Unionism metaphor or postponed? Discourses and practices of transnational CGTP and CUT. Port: Afrontamento.
Costa, Hermes Augusto (2012), "From Europe as a Model to Europe's
Austerity: The impact of the crisis on English trade unions', Transfer -
European Review of Labour and Research, 18 (4), 397-410.
Watertight, Elysium; Costa,
Hermes Augusto (2012a), "Labour Relations and Social Movements," in
Denis Erasga (ed.), Sociological Landscapes: Theories, Realities and
Trends (ISBN 978-953-51-0460-5). Rijeka / Croatia: INTECH / Open Access Publishing, 257-282. Available in http://www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/labour-relations-and-social-movements.
Watertight, Elysium; Costa,
Hermes Augusto (2012b), "Work, insecurity and socio-labor movements' in
SF Jacket (ed.), Industrial Change and gender relations: new vectors of
(in) equality. Lisbon / Coimbra: Almedina, 165-203.
Watertight, Elysium; Costa, Hermes Augusto (2013), "The European trade unionism in the
center of the volcano: challenges and threats," Janus-Yearbook of
Foreign Affairs, 16, 176-177.
Watertight, Elysium; Costa, Hermes Augusto; Soeiro, Joseph (2013), "The New Global Cycle of Protest and the
Portuguese Case," Journal of Social Science Education, 12 (1), 31-40.
Leite, Jorge; Costa, Hermes Augusto; Silva, Manuel Carvalho da; Almeida,
João Ramos (2013), "Austerity, labor market reform and devaluation of
work," Observatory on in Crisis and Alternatives (ed.), The anatomy of
the crisis: (. 1st report / preliminary) identify problems for
alternatives. Coimbra / Lisbon: Observatory on Crisis and Alternatives, 108-160.
Santos, Boaventura de Sousa (1998), Reinventing Democracy. Lisbon: Gradiva.
Toni, of Miriam (2003), "Visions of the work in transformation", Sociologias, 9, 246-286.
Top of page
References
Bibliographical reference
Elysium Waterproof and Hermes Augusto Costa, 'Work, precariousness and
social rebellions', Journal of Critical Social Science, 103 | 2014,
3-8.
Electronic reference
Elysium
Waterproof and Hermes Augusto Costa, 'Work, precariousness and social
rebellions', Journal of Critical Social Science [Online], 103 | 2014,
Online since 26 May 2014, connection on 25 June 2014 URL:
http://rccs.revues. .org/5519
Top of page
About the authors
Elysium Waterproof
Sociologist,
professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra (FEUC) and
researcher at the Centre for Social Studies since 1985. Was a visiting
professor at the State University of Campinas, Brazil, during the year
2013. Cocoordenador is the PhD Program in "Relationship Work, Social Inequalities and Trade Unionism "underway in FEUC and the Centre for Social Studies (CES). His latest book is the essay The Middle Class. Rise and Decline (Lisbon: Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, 2012).
elisio.estanque @ gmail.com
By this author
Rebellions middle class? Precariousness and social movements in Portugal and in Brazil (2011-2013) [Full text]
Published in Journal of Critical Social Science, 103 | 2014
Transformations into employment and new challenges of unionism Portuguese [Full text]
Published in Journal of Critical Social Sciences, 62 | 2002
Memory and timeliness of student movements [Full text]
Published in Journal of Critical Social Sciences, 81 | 2008
Young people, students and 'repúblicos': Student Culture and associative crisis in Coimbra [Full text]
Published in Journal of Critical Social Sciences, 81 | 2008
Title of websites: Stoa - USP Occupation - Occupation Greve 2007 and the Regents of the University of São Paulo [Full text]
URLs: http://stoa.usp.br/ocupacaousp/weblog and http://ocupacaousp.noblogs.org
Published in Journal of Critical Social Sciences, 81 | 2008
Work, social inequality and unionism [Full text]
Published in Journal of Critical Social Sciences, 71 | 2005
All documents
Hermes Augusto Costa
Sociologist. Assistant Professor, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra. Researcher at the Centre for Social Studies. Cocoordenador the PhD Program in "Labour Relations, Social Inequalities and Trade Unionism" (CES / FEUC). Recent books: The Portuguese trade unionism and the new social question: crisis or renewal? (Co-organized
with E. Watertight; Coimbra: Almedina / ESC, 2011), European Works
Councils: a study of metallurgical, chemical and financial sectors in
Portugal (co-authored with Paula R. Costa; Coimbra: Coimbra University
Press, 2014) .
hermes@fe.uc.pt
By this author
The strikes and austerity in Portugal: looks, expressions and rearrangements [Full text]
Published in Journal of Critical Social Science, 103 | 2014
Flexicurity in Portugal: challenges and dilemmas of its application [Full text]
Published in Journal of Critical Social Sciences, 86 | 2009
Lopes, Ana (2006), Sex workers unite! Labor organization in the sex industry. [Full text]
Published in Journal of Critical Social Sciences, 80 | 2008
Information and consultation in multinational companies: The
experience of Portuguese representatives in European Works Councils
[Full text]
Published in Journal of Critical Social Sciences, 79 | 2007
Munck, Ronaldo (ed.), Labour and Globalisation: Results and Prospects [Full text]
Published in Journal of Critical Social Sciences, 73 | 2005
International politics CGTP and CUT: Steps, issues and challenges [Full text]
Published in Journal of Critical Social Sciences, 71 | 2005
All documents
Top of page
Copyright
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