Estudos e Pesquisas em Psicologia
On-line version ISSN 1808-4281
Abstract
MOTA, Fernanda Rodrigues. The Meanings of Work: Analysis of Manufacturing Work in a Pharmaceutical Industry. Estud. pesqui. psicol. [online]. 2023, vol.23, n.3, pp.856-876. Epub May 03, 2024. ISSN 1808-4281. https://doi.org/10.12957/epp.2023.79264.
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.
Keywords : factory work; meanings of work; participant observation..