FROM COLONATO TO WAGE LABOR: TYPES AND TRANSACTIONAL FIELDS IN THE SÃO PAULO SUGARCANE AGROINDUSTRY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF JOHN R. COMMONS

• Grant number: 25/04454-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Economics - Economic Theory
• Principal Investigator: Sebastião Neto Ribeiro Guedes
• Grantee: Allan Keith Watanabe Tabuti
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 24/01456-2 - A proposal for an institucionalist theoretical model and its application in comparative cases, AP.R

Abstract

This Scientific Initiation project aims to analyze the transformations in labor relations within the sugarcane agroindustry in São Paulo between 1930 and 1990, grounded in the institutional economic theory of John R. Commons. The proposal employs the concepts of transactions, transactional networks, and transactional fields to analyze the interactions among social, political, and economic agents that shaped labor dynamics in the sector.The analyzed period is characterized by the transition from the colonato system to wage labor, a period marked by profound institutional, economic, and social changes. The project seeks to explore how these transformations reconfigured labor dynamics in the sugarcane sector, articulating institutional and historical dimensions.By integrating these elements, the project aims to provide a critical analysis of the changes that consolidated wage labor in the sugarcane agroindustry and to reinforce the importance of institutionalist theory in understanding social, political, and economic dynamics. (AU)