O desenvolvimento da grande indústria nos setores têxtil, químico e mecânico no Brasil

Abstract

The present study tried to demonstrate the evolution of large industry in Brazil in three selected manufacturing sectors: textile, chemical and mechanical. This effort was possible by the use of the Marxian categories that summarize the different social relations in capitalism, which describe different means of extracting surplus value: cooperation, manufacture and large industry. These categories proved to be more appropriate than those commonly used, such as Taylorism, Fordism and Toyotism to describe the changes in labour process. The latter ones disregard the main technical changes and are particulary different because of aspects of work organization. The results showed that in the textile sector there was a rapid inflection to the large industry, with a large machine system and a very disqualified workforce. The development of this large industry, however, was restricted, as it did not reach global markets. In the chemical industry, there was no inflection because of the nature of the production, although, at some points, such as in the production of medicines, this inflection could be verified. In this case, the development of the large industry was more robust with broad industry complexification (especially for the petrochemical) with large capital intensification and the use of skilled labor. The inflection in the mechanical sector was even later in the 1980s, and development was also restricted as it depended on imports. In all cases, it was possible to observe how large industry is related labor exploitation, but does not necessarily change the pattern of accumulation in the sectors. Regulationist categories would not be able to capture these changes, since they are much more localized in the organization of labor and take accumulation regimes without regard to sectoral or even national specificities.