CHASM seminar: Life beyond work

Life Beyond Work: How the Fight Against the 6x1 Schedule Could Reshape Class Demands in Brazil

We are delighted to invite you to a CHASM research seminar featuring Dr. Flávia Manuella Uchôa de Oliveira is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Management at Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) and a postdoctoral researcher at Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Flávia's academic background includes international research experience, having completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Cardiff University (2021), where she served as a UBBI Visiting Fellow and is currently a CHASM Visiting Fellow. She holds a PhD in Social Psychology from USP.

Abstract

The global critique of work's centrality has taken a unique and viral form in Brazil: the Life Beyond Work movement (Vida Além do Trabalho, widely known in Portuguese by its acronym VAT) against the exhaustive 6x1 work schedule. But who is actually driving this renewed demand for shorter working hours? Drawing on a survey of over 500 workers engaged in the movement, this seminar unpacks the profile of its participants, highlighting the prominent role of young black women in frontline service jobs facing health deterioration and social isolation. Ultimately, this talk will explore how the struggle for reduced working hours could reshape current labor dynamics, serving as a crucial unifying agenda capable of merging the diverse realities of the working class and their demands across both the site of production and the reproduction of life.