A primazia das tecnologias no mundo do trabalho: uma análise da influência das tecnologias de informação e comunicação no trabalho de assistentes sociais da Prefeitura de Juiz de Fora–MG

Abstract

This dissertation aims to provide analytical support for reflecting on the influence of information and communication technologies on the professional work of social workers working in the Social Assistance Reference Centers (CRAS) of the Municipal Government of Juiz de Fora. Minas Gerais. Brazil. The study begins with a discussion of the particularities of labor relations within capitalist sociability, understanding labor power as a commodity that is traded within production processes. Considering that the development of productive forces occurs through technical advancement, the role assumed by technologies is examined as an instrument of exploitation and domination of capital over the working class. Capitalist crises, inherent to the functioning of this mode of production, are understood as mechanisms for regulating the accumulation process. In this context, the elements that underpin the productive restructuring of capital, which drives the adoption of an increasingly flexible accumulation model, are highlighted. The outcomes of this process include a scenario of precariousness, lexicalization, instability, and constant deregulation that marks the world of work, with even more severe expressions in countries of dependent capitalism, such as Brazil. One of the main sources of the ongoing transformations is information and communication technologies, whose use has grown significantly, reaching the daily routine of public services and the workers employed within them. Among these workers are social workers who, as salaried employees inserted in the social and technical division of labor, deal daily with the expansion of platforms and systems in their workplaces. The empirical data from the reality of Juiz de Fora show that the work of social workers in CRAS has been marked by a process of reorganization expressed in changes in demands and in the indirect expansion of working hours. There are also constant concerns about the ethical and technical implications involved in the operationalization of professional work. Furthermore, the complexity of the systems, the deepening of bureaucratization, delays in access to benefits, and the lack of a territorial perspective emerge as results of digital exclusion. The impacts of the expansion of ICTs on the work of social workers are part of the New Morphology of Work imposed on Social Work in contemporary society.