Precarious work and poverty: an analysis based on the experience of sugarcane workers from Alagoas beneficiaries of income transfer programs

• Grant number: 13/19342-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2014
• End date: February 28, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology - Rural Sociology
• Principal Investigator: Rosemeire Aparecida Scopinho
• Grantee: Charles dos Santos
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The study proposed here should examine the effects of access to Income Transfer Programs in the livelihoods of rural working families living in the Zona da Mata from Alagoas. We are interested in analyzing the sociocultural, political and economic impacts of the programs in the living conditions of workers in a region that is well known for hosting some of the largest sugarcane industries in the Northeast as well as for presenting low rates of human and social development. The fact that there a conciliation between the receipt of benefits (such as Programa Bolsa Familia) and the existence of individuals in precarious social conditions - manifested, for example, in the employment status, but also in other spheres of life - is an exciting object of analysis for sociological discipline. The research presented here may also contribute to the knowledge about the current role of the State in the management of poverty. In addition to researches on literature sources and secondaries sources (like websites of IBGE, of The Ministry of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger etc..), We will conduct semi structured interviews with sugarcane workers residing in two cities of Alagoas: Branquinha and União dos Palmares. The option for these towns is justified both by the strong presence of the sugarcane industry in its area as by the low socioeconomic indicators presented. (AU)