Capitalismo cronofágico e a reconfiguração do tempo de trabalho: flexibilização e desregulamentação normativa no Brasil

Abstract

Since the first industrial revolution, capitalism has consolidated itself as a mode of accumulation based on the organization of production, developed through wage labor and oriented toward a consumer market. The transition of modern society to a market economy and wage labor inaugurated a historical process in which the category of time became central to productive dynamics. Models of labor organization, such as the Taylorist, Fordist, and Toyotist systems, directly link time and labor, enabling the acceleration of production and, consequently, the expansion of capital. In this context, the regulation of wage labor in Brazil followed a path that flowed from scarce protection until the first half of the 20th century, when the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) was published in the country in 1943. In 1988, a new democratic constitutional order was enshrined, emphasizing the social rights of labor. However, although these normative frameworks recognized fundamental labor rights, the normative trajectory is cyclical: periods of rights recognition are followed by phases of flexibilization and the weakening of labor guarantees. This normative dynamic highlights the connection between legislative changes and the political-economic context of each period, as a crystallization of the principles and values of capitalist modernity. The analysis of normative variables related to working time supports the relevance of the concept of chronophagic capitalism, an analytical category that allows us to understand the progressive depletion of free time in favor of the intensification of working time. The hypothesis defended is that capitalist development promotes a reconfiguration of the boundaries between working time and non-working time. Methodologically, the research is based on the historical method and documentary analysis, examining the transformation of Brazilian labor law from the perspective of the relationship between time and capitalism.