The lever that moves the world: the business media discourse on entrepreneurial capitalism

• Autor(a) principal: Costa, Alessandra Mello da
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Barros, Denise Franca, Martins, Paulo Emílio Matos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Cadernos EBAPE.BR
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.fgv.br/cadernosebape/article/view/5267

Using the perspective of Norman Fairclough’s (2001) social theory of discourse, this paper aims at identifying and discussing possible implications for contemporary labor relations due to the creation and diffusion of the concept of “entrepreneurship” by the business magazines. The assumption guiding this study is that the discourse used bonds – uncritically and without any kind of question – the theme “entrepreneurship” to growth, development, and enrichment of the organizations and the individuals who work for them, choosing and naturalizing market capitalism as the only possible socioeconomic model of development. To fulfill the proposed aim, this study is based on the critical discourse analysis (CDA) and focuses on material published in the Brazilian business magazines Você S/A Exame, Carta Capital, and HSM Management, within the period from March 2004 to April 2009, totaling 112 reports and 400 pages. The results of the survey enabled the identification and selection of three discursive objects (entrepreneurial capitalism, upward economic mobility in the free market, and global hero) linked to the theme “entrepreneurship”. Together, the three discursive objects identified allow us to explore some possible implications in contemporary labor relationships regarding: 1) the media discourse, which establishes a convergence between the interests of organizations and those of individuals; 2) the new configurations in the labor sphere in a model of entrepreneurial capitalism; and 3) the quest for professional success as an organizer of human behavior in the labor world.