The objective and subjective dimensions of unskilled work in shopping malls: a study among cleaning workers

• Grant number: 09/51658-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2009
• End date: July 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Social Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Valquíria Padilha
• Grantee: Valquíria Padilha
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade de Ribeirão Preto (FEARP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research, based on knowledge in the fields of sociology of work and social psychology of work, looks at the work conditions and forms of suffering among unskilled workers in shopping malls. The main goal is to analyze the relations established between the work conditions and the forms of living and feeling the invisibility and social humiliation according to cleaning workers. Workers from three shopping malls functioning in Ribeirão Preto-SP will be studied. The research, with a qualitative design, will consider two interconnected dimensions: (1) the objective - covers the work conditions, analyzed based on the "Decent Work" indicators developed by the International Labour Organization (IOL) and, (2) the subjective - covers the concepts of invisibility and social humiliation. The main research instruments will be bibliographic survey, semistructured interview with shopping mall managers and outsourced companies offering cleaning work force, besides extended conversations with these workers. The premises guiding the research are: (a) the Decent Work indicators adopted by the IOL are insufficient for a more comprehensive analysis of the unskilled work universe because they do not take the subjective dimension into account; (b) cleaning workers at shopping malls experience invisibility and social humiliation in their work; (c) one of the draws for consumers at a shopping mall, which is cleaning, is guaranteed by workers whose work cannot be considered decent and dignified. It is hoped that the conclusions will evidence the importance of including subjectivity in the critical analysis of workers and work. (AU)