Contemporary professional dynamics: contributions of Richard Sennett’s sociology

Abstract

Richard Sennett is a key interlocutor for those who want to talk about contemporary work. As a social analyst, Sennett has always contemplated in his investigations the influences of socio-economic transformations in the context of work dynamics. The main goal of this article was to propose a dialogue between Richard Sennett’s sociology and the stories of young professionals about their work dynamics. In order to weave this dialogue, the notions of flexibility, expertise and collaboration – key in the author’s work – were confronted with the interviewees’ speech, noting consonances and divergences. The interviews brought two major contributions to the debate on the topic: they showed how the company’s structure shapes individual professional practices; and demonstrated the different understandings of the concepts in distinct work contexts. In this sense, the dialogue between literature and interviews pointed out that these concepts can’t be interpreted a priori, since their meanings and values are built in the organizations’ environment.