Autor/es
Descripción
ver mas
Colaborador
Montes Cató, Juan
Materias
Spatial Coverage
Idioma
spa
Extent
320 p.
Derechos
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 2.0 Genérica (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Formato
application/pdf
Identificador
Cobertura
ARG
Abstract
The structural transformations which Argentina undertook in the last thirty years of the twentieth Century, through the processes of disindustrialization, economic opening, privatizations and selling to foreign owners, and the concentration and centralization of capital have impacted overwhelming in the world of labour, giving way to the precarious flexibility of work conditions. These transformations became part of the mechanisms and strategies of control which capital possesses in order to give continuity to the productive process. The issue developed in this thesis is in the framework of those studies which take as given that the history of capitalism can be seen as the history of the ways which it controls labour, placing itself in the analyses that research the dynamics and characteristics of which labour takes control. The search for increases in the earnings rate, by capital, imposes methods of control over the work process which assure the continuity of reaching surplus value. Controlling the labour process implies having control over the mechanisms for obtaining the surplus value, this is why the control over the productive process acquires relevance and importance.
The question undertaken here for development in this thesis will research the work process, placing emphasis on the analysis and the explanation on the ways to control the labour spaces, taking as a reference the automobile sector. In this respect, the central objectives of this thesis will be, on the one hand, to establish the ways to exercise control which allowed a process of overexploitation of the work force to take place in the automobile sector and on the other hand, realize the ways that this happens in different firms of the sector and in line with the productive chain. This is established by looking at the practices and the strategies developed by the firms to maintain control over the labour process beginning with the operational transformations in the organization of the production process and labour relations, and also, the impact these practices have over the salaried workers.
The business strategies can be seen as a measure of the methods that goes from those of a coercive nature to those whose strategies of domination can be based on the application of business practices which obtain the consent of the workers in the production process. This consent is looked for and encouraged by mechanisms of worker participation, thusly converting the labour spaces in true hegemonic spaces whose practices and strategies tend toward their concretion. For this, the relationship between the practices and their meanings, taking into account the subjective problems that arise through the development of some of those practices.
The departure point of the present thesis are the following questions: What dimensions of the labour relations can be derived from the methods of control developed in the enterprises?; Why do certain strategies seem to appear as hegemonic and others as coercive?; Why do differences exist in the search for the increase in income in the strategies developed by the firms?; How can one integrate the relationship between the firms over the control exercised toward the workers in each of the companies?; and What importance do the workers give to the practices which the companies put into play?
The main argument held in this research is that the changes in the organization of the work process and the labour relations are displayed by new strategies and practices of control which make it possible to develop and reproduce the productive process. In this framework, the control mechanisms implemented by the companies, in the context of their vinculations, have a hegemonic caracter, by the way that they try to deepen the active consent of the workers for the development of the productive process, but the importance that control assumes shall be vinculated with the important that the subjects give to those practices, leading to these practices that run the gamut from coercive to hegemonic.
For the development of this research diverse work spaces were analyzed in the auto sector, considering the place that each one ocupeis in the production chain. For this reason, we divide the enterprises into two groups: firms which are assemblers or handlers of finished cars and autopart suppliers to the first group.
The choice of the auto sector is due to various motives. The first is in the plane of exploration and discovery since it deals with the productive chains integral to the activity. The second is that this sector seems to be a dynamic sector in the economy and a heavyweight in the industrial sector, since one can observe diverse situations in what is referred to as putting into practice strategies of control and domination of the work force. The third motive arises from being a sector which is highly internationalized, which integrates the basic elements of that internationalization to the work process.
To undertake all this, different strategies and methodological techniques have been put into play. For this, we have determined that it is necessary both a qualitative and a quantitative methodology. Therefore, to reach our goals, we collected information by way of interviews with directors and managers of various companies, have been nonparticipating observers in the work spaces, a structured survey for plant workers was used, as also we used collective bargaining agreements and broadcast elements in the companies.
The question undertaken here for development in this thesis will research the work process, placing emphasis on the analysis and the explanation on the ways to control the labour spaces, taking as a reference the automobile sector. In this respect, the central objectives of this thesis will be, on the one hand, to establish the ways to exercise control which allowed a process of overexploitation of the work force to take place in the automobile sector and on the other hand, realize the ways that this happens in different firms of the sector and in line with the productive chain. This is established by looking at the practices and the strategies developed by the firms to maintain control over the labour process beginning with the operational transformations in the organization of the production process and labour relations, and also, the impact these practices have over the salaried workers.
The business strategies can be seen as a measure of the methods that goes from those of a coercive nature to those whose strategies of domination can be based on the application of business practices which obtain the consent of the workers in the production process. This consent is looked for and encouraged by mechanisms of worker participation, thusly converting the labour spaces in true hegemonic spaces whose practices and strategies tend toward their concretion. For this, the relationship between the practices and their meanings, taking into account the subjective problems that arise through the development of some of those practices.
The departure point of the present thesis are the following questions: What dimensions of the labour relations can be derived from the methods of control developed in the enterprises?; Why do certain strategies seem to appear as hegemonic and others as coercive?; Why do differences exist in the search for the increase in income in the strategies developed by the firms?; How can one integrate the relationship between the firms over the control exercised toward the workers in each of the companies?; and What importance do the workers give to the practices which the companies put into play?
The main argument held in this research is that the changes in the organization of the work process and the labour relations are displayed by new strategies and practices of control which make it possible to develop and reproduce the productive process. In this framework, the control mechanisms implemented by the companies, in the context of their vinculations, have a hegemonic caracter, by the way that they try to deepen the active consent of the workers for the development of the productive process, but the importance that control assumes shall be vinculated with the important that the subjects give to those practices, leading to these practices that run the gamut from coercive to hegemonic.
For the development of this research diverse work spaces were analyzed in the auto sector, considering the place that each one ocupeis in the production chain. For this reason, we divide the enterprises into two groups: firms which are assemblers or handlers of finished cars and autopart suppliers to the first group.
The choice of the auto sector is due to various motives. The first is in the plane of exploration and discovery since it deals with the productive chains integral to the activity. The second is that this sector seems to be a dynamic sector in the economy and a heavyweight in the industrial sector, since one can observe diverse situations in what is referred to as putting into practice strategies of control and domination of the work force. The third motive arises from being a sector which is highly internationalized, which integrates the basic elements of that internationalization to the work process.
To undertake all this, different strategies and methodological techniques have been put into play. For this, we have determined that it is necessary both a qualitative and a quantitative methodology. Therefore, to reach our goals, we collected information by way of interviews with directors and managers of various companies, have been nonparticipating observers in the work spaces, a structured survey for plant workers was used, as also we used collective bargaining agreements and broadcast elements in the companies.
Título obtenido
Doctor de la Universidad de Buenos Aires en Ciencias Sociales
Institución otorgante
Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales