PERPETUAL WORK: A GENDER PERSPECTIVE AND THE CONCEPT OF YOUTH IN FLEXIBLE CAPITALISMAbstract
This article proposes the idea of perpetual work as an analytical category to further understand the dynamics of spoliation and exploitation of labor in the contemporary capitalism. The aim is to demonstrate how the flexibility of employment contracts produces workers who cannot afford the interruption of their productive trajectories due to both the absence and interval of social security. This uninterrupted availability for labor requires an ideal worker that updates and deepens the inequalities of gender and age already present in the labor market. To build this argument, empirical data will be presented, gathered from in-depth interviews conducted with male and female workers from Information Technology departments in Campinas and São Paulo.
Keywords: Flexible Capitalism; Perpetual Work; Gender; Youth