Corpo-a-Corpo:

Estudo de Caso sobre os Usos do Corpo na Relação entre Trabalhadores e Organização de um Estabelecimento Comercial no Concelho de Sintra

Abstract

This case study seeks to analyze the uses of the body by the work force in a particular context marked by a economic regime of precarity and flexibility. This article focuses on the new tertiary sector dominated by the service relationship and the normative prescriptions of the organization in relation to the discourse, image and behavior of their employees. The purpose of this article is to analyze and understand how the bodies of workers are used as a tool of counter-power in relation to the requirements of the organization. Using the techniques of direct observation and semi-structured interviews, I tried to follow a theoretical framework covering the various developments on the body in the specific phenomenons related to the theme of work. I intended to operationalize the
body as central and structuring element of the antagonisms between different hierarchical structures within the organization. I conclude that workers are not mere passive agents in the power relationship established with the organization that prescribes their behaviors and image. On the contrary, they actively seek to
subvert the perceptions and the body uses that the company tries to impose them.