Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

THE “NEGLIGENT COMPANY” END THE “ACCIDENTAL EVENT”: SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS FOR A GROUP OF FORMER SAMARCO EMPLOYEES

ABSTRACT

The present study aims to analyze the social representations (SR) of Samarco and the rupture of the Mariana tailing dam (MG) for a group of former employees who joined the company's Voluntary Dismissal Program (VDP) in June 2016. The qualitative approach was considered as a guide for data collection and analysis. Individual interviews were conducted with ten former employees who joined the VDP. The interviews were transcribed and submitted to the initial analysis of the Iramuteq program. Subsequently, they were interpreted based on the Theory of Social Representations (TRS). The results showed that interviewees from the areas of operation and health and safety understood the disaster as an accidental phenomenon, and interviewees from the administrative areas interpreted the disaster as a result of the mining company´s negligence. The study showed the influence in the construction of these SR by various information present in the media, in the interpretations of the fact by close people (family and friends), and the symbolic management by the company. The research contributes to deepening the discussion about the SR's dynamics of construction and (re)organization in different groups from an unusual episode and the multiple influences present in this process.

Keywords:
Disaster; Tailing Dam; Samarco; Social Representations

Escola de Administração da UFRGS Escola de Administração da UFRGS, Rua Washington Luis, 855 - 2° Andar, 90010-460 Porto Alegre/RS - Brasil, Fone: (55 51) 3308-3823, Fax: (55 51) 3308 3991 - Porto Alegre - RS - Brazil
E-mail: read@ea.ufrgs.br