This article is the result of a research of much broader scope and its main purpose is to analyze the construction of identity in the discourse of taxi drivers who travel between the cities of João Pessoa and Campina Grande - PB offering an alternative means of transportation to passengers. The option was made for a qualitative type of research, and thirteen oral reports were heard - seven of which in Campina Grande and six in João Pessoa - all of which underwent a discourse analysis. The prevailing note in the descriptions of the taxi drivers is one of disappointment with a profession they find decaying and unable to assure their means of survival. The situation nowadays is difficult and unstable for them and is constantly contrasted to the past when it was more stable. In their discourse, the subjects interviewed portray themselves and the group they are part of as workers who fight for their survival. Doing so, they claim for the need to render alternative transportation legal.
taxi drivers; identity; discourse analysis