Ciências Sociais Unisinos (Jan 2009)
Cooperativa Social e a produção de liberdade dos egressos do sistema prisional
Abstract
There is no doubt that Social Cooperatives (SC) are a new reality. They are innovative cooperatives in our national legislation and important tools for the social inclusion of disadvantage people in the market and society. With the advent of Law 381/1991, the Brazilian SCs valued voluntary work associated with paid work, integrating in the economy former prisoners and the physically and/or mentally challenged. In this article it will be presented a little history of such cooperative organization and the main results of a case study conducted by Himelfarb (2005), highlighting that Social Cooperatives have an important role as a socializing initiative and social inclusion to beyond normal conditions, showing that the precursors´ utopia may have a place.
