Os fios (in)visíveis da exploração do trabalho sob o comércio eletrônico em Itabaiana-SE

Abstract

In the last five decades, the capital accumulation dynamic has transformed, manifesting itself in new modes of labor organization. Following the crisis that erupted in the 1970s, the process of global productive restructuring unfolded, validated by the emergency of the Toyotism model of production. This conjecture has produced a world of labor erected under the sign of flexibility, where precarious forms of labor insertion in a devastating spiral of precarization stand out. In these forms, old and new converge in a destructive spiral of precarization. This dynamic results from the development of productive forces accentuated by the use of communication and information technologies (ICTs), through which capital has been searching to reduce the rotation time and amplify the possibilities to extract and appropriate surplus value. The diffusion of ICTs leads to the shortening of production time. Therefore, this situation has contributed to deepening the labor subsumption to capital. In this trajectory appears the present dissertation, whose analysis is structured around the following questions: how was the development of e-commerce established, and what is its function in the circulation process of capital as goods? How has this movement impacted labor processes in commercial activities in Itabaiana? What are the relations between e-commerce and the ideology of entrepreneurship? Under the appearance of novelty, how can e-commerce be part of new and old forms of labor subsumption to capital? In the search to answer these questions, this research aims to analyze the development of e-commerce, revealing the contradictions of the circuit of goods circulation, and highlighting its consequences on the world of labor through the reality of Itabaiana, Sergipe. This city has occupied a relevant position in Sergipe's territorial division of labor, especially in the commercial sphere, where e-commerce has become increasingly prominent alongside traditional commerce. This relation occurs as a means of carrying out sales, especially with the instrumentalization of social networks such as WhatsApp and Instagram. Through the analyses of clothing and footwear commercial activities, e-commerce effects on workers intensify labor exploitation granted by ICTs. To achieve the results, the study was grounded in Dialectical and Historical Materialism, understood as a way for knowledge production that captures the real in its contradictory movement within the totality of relations. The methodological procedures include conducting bibliographical research; gathering and analyzing data from official agencies such as the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the Observatory of National Electronic Commerce (Observatório do Comércio Eletrônico Nacional), and the Brazilian Association of Electronic Commerce (Associação Brasileira do Comércio Eletrônico); observing the selling process in physical stores and on social networks; and conducting semi-structured interviews with commerce workers and public and private agents involved in this economic activity in Itabaiana and the state of Sergipe. Through the scrutinized data, we verified a polyvalence of labor with the working day duplication between virtual and face-to-face activities in stores' interiors, stimulated by the management framework through goals; in addition to that, the appropriation of non-work time, and the individualization and responsibilization of workers for the performance in their sales. These implications are parts of the (in)visible threads of labor exploitation in electronic commerce in municipality of Itabaiana-SE.