Tudo que é sólido (não) desmancha no ar: o trabalho cooperado dos catadores de material reciclável no âmbito do desenvolvimento (in)sustentável

Abstract

The object of the research is the cooperative social work of recyclable material collectors within the scope of capitalist society. The objective of the investigation is to analyze the conditions of cooperative work highlighting possible aspects of social emancipation through the social practice of cooperative members in the Cooperative of Recyclable Material Collectors Ecocooperative. The data collection techniques used were forms (with closed and open questions) and semi-structured interviews, whose narratives were analyzed in the light of the theoretical reference composed by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Ricardo Antunes, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Enrique Leff etc. Work, as it occurs in today's capitalist society, is the structuring concept of research. The concepts of cooperative work, marginal social inclusion, sustainable development, social emancipation, in addition to the notion of social representation, all fundamental to understanding the social role played by solid waste collectors, gravitate around it. The investigation sought to reveal the lifestyle that feeds and is fed by contemporary capitalist society, through the fundamentals of programmed obsolescence, intending to understand the social role of recyclable material collectors in the material/symbolic production (and reproduction) of life, showing the socioeconomic dynamics of cooperative members of the recycling cooperative that seek their social emancipation.