The “promised land”: management practices, mining work and its impacts on family relations

Abstract

This article aims to present an intervention research focused on understanding the relationship between family and work in a mining unit located in Northern Brazil. Psychology's critical views on work are adopted here. Although not originally foreseen, the data reported here emerged from the field, derived from the research-intervention project contracted by the company, which sought to investigate the psychosocial variables that directly affect the work of backhoe operators. The need to get closer to the research subjects motivated the realization of an intervention with their families. This intervention was carried out using group techniques, such as conversation circles and home visits, followed by an analysis of family members’ perceptions about the operators’ work and their relationship with the company. The results highlight the importance of the concept of territory to understand the subjectivation processes of families; social bonds as a protective psychosocial factor; the imbricated articulation between the work management process and the social benefits policy. We conclude by highlighting the importance of family ties for the real understanding of the operators' activity, and reaffirming the notion of the centrality of work in the shaping of the territory.