Drowning in Laws: Labor Law and Brazilian Political Culture - Softcover

French, John D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807855278 ISBN 13: 9780807855270

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2004

Synopsis

Since 1943, the lives of Brazilian working people and their employers have been governed by the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT). Seen as the end of an exclusively repressive approach, the CLT was long hailed as one of the world's most advanced bodies of social legislation. In Drowning in Laws, John D. French examines the juridical origins of the CLT and the role it played in the cultural and political formation of the Brazilian working class. Focusing on the relatively open political era known as the Populist Republic of 1945 to 1964, French illustrates the glaring contrast between the generosity of the CLT's legal promises and the meager justice meted out in workplaces, government ministries, and labor courts. He argues that the law, from the outset, was more an ideal than a set of enforceable regulations-there was no intention on the part of leaders and bureaucrats to actually practice what was promised, yet workers seized on the CLT's utopian premises while attacking its systemic flaws. In the end, French says, the labor laws became "real" in the workplace only to the extent that workers struggled to turn the imaginary ideal into reality.

About this title

Review:

French analyzes the effects of legislation in Brazil in 1943 that has been hailed as remarkably advanced social and labor legislation. He illustrates the glaring contrast between the generosity of the law's promises and what it actually delivered.

"A monograph that will interest scholars of both labor and legal history in Brazil and Latin America. . . . An intriguing analysis."
-- "American Historical Review"

"Offers readers a fresh perspective."
-- "Luso-Brazilian Review"

About the Author:

John D. French is associate professor of history at Duke University and author of The Brazilian Workers' ABC: Class Conflict and Alliances in Modern Sao Paulo.

About this edition

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0807855278
• ISBN 13: 9780807855270
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 254