(Contra)reforma da previdência: efeitos de sentido do discurso neoliberal

Abstract

This thesis is affiliated with the materialist Analysis of Discourse, inaugurated by Michel Pêcheux, and aims to analyze the effects of meaning of the neoliberal discourse on the Pension Reform, in the discursive formations of the government, the media, in particular Folha de São Paulo and of the Syndicate. The analysis corpus is composed of discursive sequences extracted from Brazilian government documents on Social Security Reform available on official websites and from historical records that deal with the constitution of Social Security in Brazil, available on official websites and in academic productions, as well as from discursive sequences extracted from materials published on the website of a workers' representation, the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT), in addition to journalistic materials (reports, editorials, articles) published in the digital newspaper Folha de S. Paulo in the Opinion sections (Editorial, Columns and blogs) and Economy. Theoretical-analytical devices of Analysis of Discourse were mobilized, such as conditions of discursive production, meaning effects, discursive functioning, discursive formation, memory, meaning effect, metaphorical effect. The notions of neoliberal discourse and Social Security reform were discussed, taking into account the contributions of authors of Analysis of Discourse, historical materialism and researchers who study Social Security. Our gesture of interpretation is based on one of the main arguments supporting the discourse in question, the “social security hole”, which produces effects of restricting the rights of the working class in a context of advancement of neoliberal policies, which aim at counter-reforming the Brazilian state to respond to the demands of capital in crisis. In this way, metaphors such as “Social Security breach” seek to convince society that reforms are necessary for the nation's development, while promoting the State's retreat from social rights and intensifying the offensive of capital on work.