The Meanings of Work: Analysis of Manufacturing Work in a Pharmaceutical Industry

Abstract

The aim of this text is to discuss factory work based on the results of a survey about the meanings of labor for workers from a pharmaceutical industry in Rio de Janeiro's metropolitan area. This research aimed to understand the worker's view of his labor and how he perceives himself as a worker. Therefore, we chose to conduct an ethnographic field research with thirteen shop floor workers. With regard to the methodological structure of this research, the option was for a qualitative approach, which was based on the use of individual semi-structured interviews and observations of work activities, using participant observation as an instrument. As a result, we realize that, for workers, labor is still a structuring factor and a producer of meanings in their lives. Thus, the labor has great importance for the daily life of workers, and the social value that is intrinsic in their occupation is indisputable.