Entrepreneurial Discourse and the Precarization of Contemporary Labor Relations

Abstract

Since the productive transformations that began in the 1990s — intensified by the 2017 Labor Reform — labor relations in Brazil have been progressively reconfigured under the ideals of flexibility and autonomy. Under the discourse of modernization and self-entrepreneurship, the replacement of state protection by individual responsibility has been observed, which accentuates inequalities and weakens social rights. This study, with a qualitative and exploratory approach, based on bibliographic research and the deductive method, critically analyzes how the neoliberal discourse of autonomy — associated with the ideas of freedom and efficiency — contributes to the precarization of labor relations and the erosion of the State’s protective role. It seeks to understand the transition from the classical model of formal employment to the paradigm of the autonomous worker and self-entrepreneurship, as well as to discuss the limits of state action in the face of this new labor configuration. In this context, it is observed that the discourse of autonomy has served as a tool to legitimize precariousness and to transfer economic risks to the worker. The State’s omission, under the guise of neutrality, reinforces deregulation and turns labor vulnerability into a structural condition. True autonomy, however, is only possible when supported by legal guarantees and by effective state action in defense of the dignity of labor.