Banca de DEFESA: OZILEIA CARDOSO DA SILVA

STATE, SOCIAL POLICIES AND COMMODIFICATION OF THE LABOR POWER: analysis based on Marx's theory of value

State. Commodification of labor power. Marx's theory of value. Social policy. Social work.

This thesis analyzes, based on Marx's theory of value, how the state relates to the transformation and reproduction of labor power into a commodity. In this sense, the research objective consisted of the author's analytical indications of Capital, as an expression of his theory of value, regarding state regulation of the working class, focusing on the process of commodification of labor power. Based on this theory, the phenomenon of social policy as state mediation in the contradictory dynamics of capitalist accumulation is also examined, based on the scientific production of Brazilian Social Services. The central research problem was therefore expressed as: how does the state relate to the commodification of labor power under capitalism? The theoretical investigation was guided by the following main objectives: 1) Understanding the determinants of the commodity form in Marx's analysis of value; 2) Analyzing the transformations of the process of commodification of labor power into capital; and 3) Analyze how the State relates to the labor force and its impact on the commodification of labor. Based on these objectives, this thesis is characterized as a theoretical-critical study, grounded in bibliographical research, with an explanatory and qualitative approach. The investigative approach adopted the systematic exposition of Capital: Critique of Political Economy as a central theoretical framework. The central findings demonstrate that the domination of capitalist commodity production required specific formal-legal regulation, which is explicitly expressed in the form of the State, as a phenomenal determination. Equality in the expression of commodity value therefore constitutes a determinant of the capitalist form of the State. It follows, therefore, that under the premise of equality of value, the abstract regulation of the State is fundamentally based on the phenomenon of the commodification of labor. Consequently, the contradictory dynamics of social policies are also made explicit under this particular determination. It is clear, therefore, that the analysis of social policy within the scientific production of Social Work is constituted by a mosaic of diverse political and theoretical nuances. This fact highlights a significant complexity related to the multiplicity of functions of State regulation in the development of the capitalist mode of production. At the same time, it is clear that, within this area of knowledge, particularly regarding the understanding of the relationship between social policy and the commodification of labor, there are elements that require problematization—especially concerning the foundations of the critique of political economy—and that even resonate with political propositions defended regarding the relationship between State, market, and society. It is therefore concluded that the analysis of the State's dialectical regulation between market and society cannot be disconnected from the set of particular determinations of the form of capitalist exploitation, based on the transformation of labor into a commodity.