Work and health conditions in Alagoas sugarcane agribusiness

Abstract

Abstract: This paper attempts to discuss the relationship between the health conditions of sugarcane cutters from Alagoas and the way these workers are included in the process of production of sugarcane agribusiness. As part of a critical tradition of the technical and biological models in occupational health, which do not make the necessary connections between the disease of the worker and the social relations of production, the research introduces the idea that the worker is also sick because of the way the work he does to survive is organized and accomplished. This study is based on a scheme of analysis that seeks to address the individual in its entirety, that is, that takes into account the observation of the relationship between health and disease among the employees' biological, psychological and social aspects. It is expected, with this study, that Sociology will contribute lucid and critically to the debate about the causal link between the forms of work in contemporary times and the illness among workers. The methodology adopted in this research included both semi-structured interviews with sugarcane cutters in the towns from Alagoas, Maceió (in 2009), Rio Largo (in 2007) and Teotônio Vilela (in 2008 and 2009), and the literature review; moreover, it was of great assistance to the investigator the availability of secondary data such as documents provided by public and private agencies linked to working life in Sugarcane Agroindustrial Complex from Alagoas.