“SEMPRE FUI PJ”: RETROSPECTOS AMBIVALENTES DE UM TRABALHADOR SOBRE OCUPAÇÃO, TRAJETÓRIA E PROTEÇÃO SOCIAL

Abstract

This article addresses a practice of hiring workers based on the transformation of an “individual” into a “legal entity” (PJ), hence the neologism “pejotização.” This is a phenomenon that has been growing substantially in the labor market due to various factors, including the rise of an entrepreneurial ideology, as well as the qualitative deterioration of jobs (de-salaryization) and a gap (gray area) between the traditionally termed formal and informal sectors of the labor economy. Specifically, the study seeks to analyze the ambivalences present in the experience of a “pejotized” worker, considering the tensions between autonomy, subordination, social protection, and the construction of professional identity throughout their work trajectory. To this end, the technique of in-depth exploratory interviews was used, combined with content analysis. Broadly speaking, the research points toward an understanding of a major transformation in labor relations, disrupted by elements underlying a phenomenon of worker individualization and lack of social protection. The worker who is the subject of this analysis reveals his subjective conflicts. His status as a self-employed photographer provided him with sufficient elements for professional satisfaction, at least while the contract was in effect. Throughout the interview, however, on many occasions, the professional photographer rationalizes his current condition of lack of protection and professional obsolescence, which is clearly evidenced and symbolized by the need to take legal action against the social security system in order to prove his actual contributions over the course of his professional career spanning more than thirty years.