Practices of Normalizing Political Violence at Volkswagen do Brasil during the Brazilian Civil-Military Dictatorship

• Published in: RAC - Revista de Administracao Contemporanea 2024-03, Vol.28 (2)
• Main Authors: de Carvalho Silva, Marcelo Almeida, Costa, Alessandra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1415-6555
• DOI: 10.7910/DVN/EQBMNP

Objective: to investigate what the practices of normalizing political violence perpetrated by Volkswagen do Brasil against its workers during the Brazilian military dictatorship were, how they were configured, and how they were operationalized. Theoretical framework: the historical context of corporate collaboration with dictatorial governments allows us to identify the invisible face of organizational violence that results from routine practices that normalize political violence. Methods: historical research with documental sources from the National Archives, the APESP, the Public Representation opened against the company by MPESP, the newspaper Tribuna Metalurgica, the magazine Familia VW, and the press. The documents were analyzed in dialogue with the historiography and with analytical categories from the field. Results: the research identified five practices of normalizing political violence: formalization, division of labor, routinization, authority and obedience, and identity and nonidentity politics. Conclusions: tunderstanding political violence as actions to dismantle workers' protest movements for better working conditions and the organization of workers around issues of national politics, the results suggest that the company, in collaboration with repressive forces, carried out practices to normalize political violence. Keywords: organizational violence; political violence; normalization of violence; Brazilian dictatorship; Volkswagen do Brasil. Objetivo: investigar quais eram, como se configuravam e como eram operacionalizadas praticas de normalizacao da violencia politica cometida pela Volkswagen do Brasil contra seus trabalhadores durante a ditadura militar brasileira. Marco teorico: o contexto historico da colaboracao de empresas com governos ditatoriais permite identificar a face de invisibilidade da violencia organizacional decorrente de praticas rotineiras de gestao que normalizam a violencia politica. Metodo: pesquisa historica com fontes documentais dos acervos: Arquivo Nacional, Arquivo Publico do estado de Sao Paulo, Ministerio Publico do estado de Sao Paulo, Tribuna Metalurgica, Revista Familia VW e imprensa. Os documentos foram analisados em dialogo com a historiografia e com categorias analiticas provenientes do campo. Resultados: a pesquisa identificou cinco praticas de normalizacao da violencia politica: formalizacao, divisao do trabalho, rotinizacao, autoridade e obediencia, politica de identidade e nao identidade. Conclusoes: a