The Meaning Making Process to Women in Direct Selling: an exploratory study
Work; Women's Work; Informality; Direct Selling; Meaning Making Process
Understood as the locus of precariousness, female labor has established itself as an allegory for the study of the forms of exploitation established in the labor market, since it embodies the characteristics of activity without public regulations and the protection of rights, essentially domestic and poorly paid. In this sense, Direct Selling (DS) as an occupational arrangement aimed at the female insertion holds these characteristics, especially after productive restructuring. Therefore, this research aims to understand how the workers of this specific activity develop the meanings and meanings of their work. The theoretical-methodological framework of the Theory of Activity, advocated by Leontiev, and based on Vygotsky's Historical-Cultural Psychology, and the process of signification of work, were used to understand that senses, meanings and activity are integrated constructs operating in psychological development. This research had an exploratory and comprehensive character, with mixed design and was structured in two complementary studies: in study I, the validation of the Questionnaire of Meaning of Work (QST) for the specific public was aimed; in study II, to understand how meaning is processed through the mediations that cross the DS activity in its real and concrete terms. The study included 255 female workers and study II, 235 in its first phase and 6 in its second phase. The QST was applied in study I, in addition to a socio-professional questionnaire and the preparation of semi-structured interviews, in study II. The data produced were analyzed through the Exploratory Factor Analysis strategies, in study I and descriptive statistics, in addition to Analysis of Thematic Content, in study II. The results indicate the interrelation between the components of the activity and the construction of signification, especially at the levels of the subject and object of the activity.