Recovered factories and machines: Experiences of sociotechnical adaptation in Brazil and Argentina

Abstract

In the contemporary world technology is usually considered as a crucial element of social relationships. It is also recognized by several authors as a political tool through which power relationships may be preserved or transformed. This study draws elements from this tradition and seeks to analyze some processes that are capable of changing the structure of the property of the means of production, as well as the results of these changes, in the context of the Solidarity Economy. Based on a review of the literature and on a set of interviews and visits (in 2014 and 2015) to two recovered factories (Flaskô in Brazil and CAFLA in Argentina) we sought to identify processes of technological modifications and management changes devised by workers, associated to strategies of “sociotechnical adaptation”. We observed the existence of several examples of technological redesign aimed at making production more adherent to the principles of self-management, cooperativism and solidarity economy. The research has shown that relevant experiments in terms of sociotechnical adaptation are being conducted in Latin America. It has also provided evidence that technological innovation may also find fertile ground to sprout in productive environments outside of the traditional ones, associated with standard capitalist firms.

Keywords: recovered factories, solidarity economy, sociotechnical adaptation.