ILPC 2026

This presentation aims to reflect on the implications of the discourse and practice of entrepreneurship for the working conditions and the subjectivity of the workers. It also seeks to discuss possible ways of resisting the precariousness that such reality imposes through solidary relations. It is important to consider the uniqueness of work in Brazil throughout its history, mainly in the sense of showing that the precariousness of work is a reality that is always present, as some authors like Francisco de Oliveira and Otávio Ianni point out.

To reflect on the theme of entrepreneurship, the theoretical reading of Adriano Campos and José Soeiro will be used. The object of criticism is the "narrative of entrepreneurship, which presents it as an 'attitude', a 'spirit' and a 'way of being' of the individual capable of solving those problems (p.10). It is she who deserves the "greatest distrust" (p.10). For Campos and Soeiro, it is an ideology. This narrative presents itself as an outlet for the employment crisis - making the individual responsible for solving his problem. In this logic, "The issue of unemployment would be solved by promoting entrepreneurial behavior by individuals rather than by public policies of job creation and countercyclical investment" (p.49). In this logic, success in the job market depends only on the individual. Specifically, we are interested in discussing the term "social entrepreneurship", which refers to the importation of business logic and private enterprise by organizations providing social services, or, as it is called, "third sector" organizations  (mutual societies, cooperatives, foundations, mercy, etc.). These companies are neither governmental nor "private" and sell their services to the State. Initiatives in this sense have been adopted in the areas of health, social assistance and education. As a result, the state hires poor jobs. To bring elements about reality in Brazil, documentary data will be used. It can be seen that these services have been outsourced, compromising the working conditions of the professionals who provide these services and also the quality of the work provided to the population.

There are many levels and many instruments from which it is possible to face this reality that we have lived. I bring here the idea that one of the levels is located in the sphere of daily life, which refers to the daily activities, the activities common and small. I believe that building a counter-discourse and a practice that rescues and strengthens the solidary relationship allows us to experience other ways of living and relating in the Work, which, at the same time, opposes resistance to this neoliberal ideology and to the precariousness of life.

In Brazil, we have known several initiatives to build other ways of being and relating that have a clear political position - self-management in the field of Solidarity Economy and the Landless Workers Movement. Both are movements that have anti-capitalist, anti-neoliberal and anti-precarious principles of life.

In addition to these two great social movements that guide their strategies for action by clear political principles, in Brazil, poor workers who find themselves in the informal labor market, create work to survive - "turning around" individually (that is, without being part of enterprises or collective initiatives). But even in these cases, the creation of work is based on solidarity, based on the relationship of friendship, neighborhood, kinship and anchored in forms of sociability of the simple man - who learned to live his life always beside and with others.

Without ignoring the extreme relevance of adopting forms of coping aimed at achieving structural change, it is important to shed light on these everyday practices of resistance.