AFFLUENT WORKERS, RECENT INDUSTRIES - REVISITING THE THESIS OF THE LABOR ARISTOCRACY

The article discusses the process of forming a class identity among better skilled, more affluent workers in Brazil's Northeast. Seeking to move beyond objectivist approaches, the article presents and criticizes some classic arguments regarding the impossibility of labor classes emerging in situations characterized by relatively high regional salaries and skills, stable employment, state capital, and developmentalist ideologies. Examining earlier research conducted by the authors on petrochemical workers in Bahia, the article describes the mechanisms that in this case led to the consolidation of anti-capitalist unions with a broad base of acceptance among workers.