Pedro F. Bendassolli

Significado do trabalho nas indústrias criativas

Studies concerning the worker in creative industries are still scarce in the management scientific literature. This study has attempted to reduce this gap, by investigating the meaning of work among professionals laboring in these industries. We have translated and adapted a Canadian questionnaire into Portuguese for measuring this construct. It was responded by 451 individuals from different domains of those industries in Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The data was analyzed with use of psychometric techniques and procedures for comparing and correlating means. The findings show that the most prominent factors associated to a meaningful work for these individuals are: the possibility of learning and developing through work, its social function, the opportunity of identification with and self-expression through work, autonomy, good interpersonal relationships, and the respect to ethical issues. The paper concludes with some implications from these findings to the creative industries and meaning of working literature.

O Paradoxo de Mozart: carreiras nas indústrias criativas

Nos ultimos anos, a literatura sobre carreiras foi enriquecida devido ao desenvolvimento do conceito de carreiras sem fronteiras. No entanto, a ideia de ausencia de fronteiras pode ser considerada imprecisa, porque fronteiras continuam a existir. Este trabalho procura contribuir para o entendimento das novas fronteiras das carreiras sem fronteiras. Para tanto, foram realizadas 20 entrevistas semi-estruturadas com artistas e profissionais atuando nas industrias criativas. Os setores abrangidos incluem arte multimidia, artesanato, cinema, danca, desenho, literatura, musica, pintura, teatro e desenvolvimento de software. Os resultados dessas entrevistas apontam no sentido de que as carreiras sao construidas num ambiente em que atuam forcas contraditorias, originarias dos lacos entre cultura e economia. Tais contradicoes geram paradoxos que demandam a construcao de solucoes de compromisso. Dois desses paradoxos sao discutidos: o paradoxo entre amadorismo e profissionalismo e o paradoxo entre valorizacao intrinseca e valorizacao extrinseca do trabalho. O artigo discute, ainda, algumas das estrategias utilizadas pelos entrevistados para fazerem frente a esses paradoxos, concluindo com sugestoes para futuras investigacoes.

Uma crítica da utilização da análise de conteúdo qualitativa em psicologia

This paper aims to analyze the inferential processes underpinning interpretation in qualitative Content Analysis and that are related with a triad compounded by theory, phenomenon and datum. In the first section, a brief history of this method and of its main modalities and techniques are presented. In the second, the standard procedures of a categorical Content Analysis are discussed, according to Bardins perspective. Specifically, the paper discusses the codification and categorization processes and their underlying logical mechanisms: induction and deduction. Some questions and epistemological issues are introduced concerning the operationalization of both these mechanisms in Content Analysis and the limits of treating the later merely as an ad hoc resource. In the next two sections, the article provides a critical analysis of the qualitative Content Analysis, taking into account the three following interconnected components: phenomenon, theory and data. It is argued this method of analysis must go beyond the mere description or organization of data through categorization, focusing instead in a theorization of the psychological phenomenon under investigation.This paper aims to analyze the inferential processes underpinning interpretation in qualitative Content Analysis and that are related with a triad compounded by theory, phenomenon and datum. In the first section, a brief history of this method and of its main modalities and techniques are presented. In the second, the standard procedures of a categorical Content Analysis are discussed, according to Bardins perspective. Specifically, the paper discusses the codification and categorization processes and their underlying logical mechanisms: induction and deduction. Some questions and epistemological issues are introduced concerning the operationalization of both these mechanisms in Content Analysis and the limits of treating the later merely as an ad hoc resource. In the next two sections, the article provides a critical analysis of the qualitative Content Analysis, taking into account the three following interconnected components: phenomenon, theory and data. It is argued this method of analysis must go beyond the mere description or organization of data through categorization, focusing instead in a theorization of the psychological phenomenon under investigation.

Reconsidering theoretical naïveté in psychological qualitative research

This article proposes a reconsideration of the view that, in order to better grasp the objects they study, qualitative researchers should bracket their preconceived ideas, particularly their theoretical assumptions. This view has led to the advocacy of theoretical naïveté in the context of research, particularly in qualitative settings. We argue that such naïveté presupposes a simplistic dichotomy between theory and empirical data and, therefore, drawing from current developments in the philosophy of science, we propose reconsidering the view of theoretical naïveté in light of the distinction between theory, phenomena, and data. After discussing approaches that do not recognize the phenomenon as a mediator between theory and data or that do so only partially, we propose an approach that explicitly assigns a mediating role to phenomena. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications that substantive rehabilitation of theory in the construction of scientific phenomena will have for qualitative research in general and for psychology in particular.

Reconhecimento no trabalho: perspectivas e questões contemporâneas

*RESUMO. Nas duas ultimas decadas o tema do reconhecimento tornou-se uma importante chave de leitura das ciencias politicas para a compreensao de diversos fenomenos sociais contemporâneos. No campo da psicologia das organizacoes e do trabalho, particularmente a relevância do tema tambem se faz notar pelo crescente numero de estudos dedicados a compreender suas relacoes com topicos como identidade, sofrimento, saude, motivacao e percepcao de justica e reciprocidade nas relacoes intersubjetivas nas organizacoes. O objetivo deste artigo e promover uma apreciacao em conjunto de perspectivas sobre reconhecimento no trabalho. Especificamente, sao discutidas as perspectivas da teoria social, que ajudaram a estabelecer o status epistemologico do reconhecimento na cena filosofica e social da atualidade, da psicologia organizacional e duas perspectivas oriundas do campo das clinicas do trabalho, a saber, a psicodinâmica e a clinica da atividade. O artigo conclui com uma reflexao de conceitos desenvolvidos nestas perspectivas, propondo questoes criticas para a investigacao da relacao reconhecimento-trabalho no campo brasileiro da Psicologia das organizacoes e do trabalho na atualidade. Palavras-chave : Trabalho e reconhecimento; trabalho e identidade; clinicas do trabalho.

Paradigmas, eixos temáticos e tensões na PTO no Brasil

Work and organizational psychology paradigms, thematic streams and tensions in Brazil. The great theoretical and methodological diversity of Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP) approaches in Brazil reflects the presence of distinct scientific paradigms in the setting of boundaries and the organization of this field. The purpose of this paper is to analyze these paradigms and relate them with three WOP thematic streams in Brazil: the behavioral stream; the subjectivity stream; and the clinical stream. We investigate epistemological and methodological fundamentals, some studies and authors in each of these streams, discussing their contribution to the field of WOP in Brazil. The paper discusses the stresses that exist among these streams, which arise from the pressure of corresponding at once to academic rigor and organizational relevance criteria. Finally, the article shows the diversification of the field of WOP in Brazil and resulting challenges.

REPRESENTAÇÕES E ESTRATÉGIAS IDENTITÁRIAS NA EXPERIÊNCIA DO ARTISTA

The papers purpose is to understand the identity representation construction processes and identity strategies used by artists in three cultural segments in the State of Sao Paulo. Two data-gathering strategies have been combined: a survey and in-depth interviews. A total of 92 artists accepted taking part in the study. The data were analyzed based on categorization lev-els and with the support of specific computer software. The results show that the core of artis-tic identity representation is formed by the artists self-perception as a professional with a calling, dedicated to the construction of a body of work capable of mobilizing others and con-tributing to an aesthetic genre. The most frequent identity strategies include public exposure, continuous engagement and disengagement from limited duration projects, investment in their own personal development, and public relationship strategies.

Emptiness and Work: a Meaning-Making Perspective

This paper aims to put forward the foundation for building a theory of meaning-making based on emptiness. The theoretical perspective underlying the discussion is the cultural psychology of semiotic mediation. According to this perspective, meaning-making is the result of the process through witch human beings use signs to build their relationship with their environment. Three topics unfold in the paper. First, emptiness is defined as a potential absence. Second, the paper identifies the two ways in which emptiness enters into the meaning-making process, either fostering it or, to the contrary, blocking it. When it fosters meaning construction, emptiness acts as a catalytic factor, that is, as a reservoir of possibilities, in the sense of a future-oriented set of new meanings to be built by the agent. However, when emptiness plays the role of a blocking or anti-catalytic factor, emptiness become a hyper-generalized sign, i.e., an empty meaning. Third, this paper illustrates the applicability of these theoretical reflections on emptiness through the example of work. Specifically, both the burnout and the so-called “placardisation” phenomena are analyzed in terms of the anti-catalytic factors at play in work, which lead to feeling it as empty.

Work and culture: Approaching cultural and work psychology

In this article, we aim to explore the potential consequences of an approach to the theme of work that lies between culture psychology and work psychology. We argue that culture and work, considered as entities, have suffered from a process of mutual distancing over the course of history. Our first argument is to show the fallacy underlying this distancing, by arguing that culture is not an entity, but rather a process by which we use signs as tools to mediate our relationship with the environment and to regulate our own action in irreversible time. We also argue that work is a sign-mediated activity that occurs through culture. Most importantly, we advance the urgency of considering work as a cultural phenomenon, whose specific role is to make culture by getting things transformed into objects. The second argument we put forward is that work is a meaning-making complex. We further develop this concept by claiming that work should be analysed at the general level of the semiotic principles of meaning-making.

Self-Control, Self-Management and Entrepreneurship in Brazilian Creative Industries

Creative entrepreneurship has gained ground in recent years with the advent of creative industries. The capabilitiesto set targets and individually self-regulate have been indicated as predictors of entrepreneurship. This study aims to identify validity characteristics of a self-regulation scale and to test if score differences are related to whether or not one is an entrepreneur, personalcharacteristics, or the activity sector. A total of 596 professionals from creative industries in Brazil participated in this study. The self-control and self-management scale (SCMS) has been applied; it has been translated and adapted to Portuguese. Cross-validation analysis has been done. The results support the three-factor structure of the scale. Entrepreneurs tended to indicate higher means in the self-evaluation factor than non-entrepreneurs. Activity sector, gender and schooling demonstrated a significant difference in the self-monitoring factor.