THE INTENSIFICATION OF DISTRIBUTIVE CONFLICTS IN BRAZIL AND THE BUSINESSPEOPLE POLITICAL DISPLACEMENT DURING ROUSSEFF’S GOVERNMENT (2011-16)

Abstract

This article discusses the political behavior of Brazilian industrial entrepreneurs during Rousseff’s Government (2011-16), based on two case studies of important sectors: Civil Construction and auto parts industry. Following the hypothesis that there was a political displacement from the industrial entrepreneurs support in 2011, towards the shaping of an “anti-development bourgeois unity” in opposition to the government, we conducted semi-structured interviews and data collection. The analysis confirms the hypotheses of the industrials political displacement in the period, and points as one of the explanations the intensification of distributive conflicts between capital and labor, expressed in the businesspeople statements and in the increase of the wage-share in the Gross Value Added (GVA) and of the number of strikes.

Keywords:
Political behavior; Lulism; Social Classes; Political Crisis