The construction of workers village in the south of Brazil: Galópolis case

Abstract

The purpose of building worker’s villages is to immobilize labor force for the factory process, thus guaranteeing its reproduction through its being available. At the end of the 19th century and in the first decade of the 20th century hiring specialized labor force for the industry was no easy task. So the existence of a worker’s village solved to a greater extent the systematization of labor force, since employers, by keeping a village with its workers, reproduced the labor force inside a factory environment. Worker’s children learned their parent’s craft, and so they reproduced not only their own craft but the village’s collective consciousness too. This study is divided in two parts: the first one is a brief history of Galópolis worker’s village, and the second deals with social policies adopted by the textile industry in the maintenance of this village, and the mechanisms used to attract labor force.