Representations of dock workers from Santos-SP concerning the relation between work and health

Abstract

This study analyses the representations of individual dock workers at the Port of Santos (state of São Paulo) concerning working conditions, the relation between work and health, and also the adopted health care strategies from the perspective of gender and masculinities. Qualitative research was developed and a total of 13 interviews were conducted with representatives from different categories of dock workers. The Port is described by the workers as a dangerous place, where accidents occur very frequently. They attribute this risk to the organization of labor and to the very heterogeneous conditions in which it is conducted on a daily basis. The transformations that happened in the past decades in the immediate context of work on the docks have implications regarding the patterns of illness and suffering of this specific population; at the same time, they demand the gradual (re)production of values and meanings concerning being a man and a dock worker.