O Biscateiro como uma categoria de trabalho : uma análise antropológica

Resumo

In its structure, this article reveals two basic preoccupations, intrinsically linked.

- First, a preoccupation of method, that consists in pointing out the necessary conditions, the specificity and the advantages of an anthropological approach, above all when the idea is to comprehend the universe under discussion, starting from the point of view of those who are the protagonists in it.

- Secondly, a preoccupation of concept that through the choice of a labor category, "biscateiro" intended to outline a profile of underemployment, even it only a beginning, and at the same time to provide thoughts for a critical study of the indicators that are traditionally attributed to it.

Hence its character more of guidance to show the way than an attempt to arrive at final conclusions. The fact is that exists the intention, once the first stage is past, of following up with a more comprehensive study of the phenomenon of underemployment. This study, however, already brings under discussion some important points these are:

- the "biscate" from the point of view of common sense;

- the "biscate" as an essentially manual service and therefore revealing a social division of labor;

- the "biscate" as services rendered by an autonomous individual as opposed to salaried worker typical of the capitalist enterprise;

- the "biscate" as a strategy added to the salaried job, its complementary character and the forms it assumes: concurrent or alternative;

- the role of the woman in the "biscate";

- the winding road of the "biscateiro" without a profession;

- the winding road of the "biscateiro" with a profession.

The analysis tries to go deeper when it investigates the specificity of the "biscate" as an economic relation and the characteristics of the "biscateiro as the entrepreneur of his own production. This specificity is guaranteed by the combination of three factors: the "biscateiro" owns his working tools; the "biscateiro" regulates his own working hours; and the "biscateiro" determines the price of his services.

This article was part of the Brazilian paper discussed in the seminar "Information Systems Policy of Employment" held in Brasilia in September 1974 under the sponsorship of IPEA/ IPLAN - IBGE - PREALC.