A atuação do SEBRAE na disseminação da figura jurídica do Microempreendedor Individual e a percepção de trabalhadores por conta própria na cidade de Pelotas/RS

Abstract

With about 12 million subscribers in Brazil, the legal figure of the Microempreendedor Individual (MEI) is currently widely publicized as a public policy for the formalization of work activities, having the Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas - SEBRAE as one of the main agents of this promotion, alongside with themes such as micro and small businesses and entrepreneurship. In the sociology of work and employment new debates arise about the emergence of new forms of work and employment with a different structure from those originating in Fordist society. The present work aims to analyze the performance of the SEBRAE institution in relation to the legal figure of the Microempreendedor Individual, verifying the institution's role in the development of the legal form, as well as in the dissemination of the figure, and to understand the perception of people who are or were MEI in the city of Pelotas/RS. Therefore, in this research, a study was carried out on the concepts of entrepreneurship, neoliberalism, informal work and on the analytical forms of self-entrepreneurship, as well as a research on the action of SEBRAE on the MEI, seeking to verify the history and constitution of both the institution and the legal figure. Interviews were conducted with five participants who are currently working or have worked as Microempreendedores Individuais in the city of Pelotas/RS, in order to understand the perception of the workers on the subject.