Discourses that impose the centrality of work as a disciplinary power for the imprisoned

Abstract

This paper discusses the centrality of the labor sphere as an exclusive dimension of social integration, mainly for those who are imprisoned and need to prove that they are capable of being integrated into the job market in order to reduce their penalties. Michel Foucault perceives the labor dimension as a political force that subdues man, contributing to adjust them to a working disciplinary society. Social beings must identify themselves as workers in order to believe that they can achieve the best social positions, be protected from marginality, violence and aggression. The discourses about the centrality of work in the legal criminal system promote work as a possibility of social inclusion, reinforcing power strategies that contribute to criminalize and exclude the ones who are not employed. This paper studied some of these discourses that reinforce the essentiality of work, questioning their positivity, denouncing them as a source of social discipline and conformity.

Keywords

• universo do trabalho
• estratégias de poder-saber
• discurso jurídico-penal