Health at Work as an Object Represented in Dispute. An Auto parts Case Study

Abstract

The Mexican auto parts industry is subject to structural pressures belonging to a productive chain and regulatory that can violate working conditions, which is why the interest in investigating occupational health as an object represented in a critical way is raised. The approach to research through the theory of social representations is discussed, linking conceptual elements that allow the development of the constituted and constituent thought of health as an object represented in the work, proposing a proposal that shows the social and cognitive dynamics of the theory. The methodological strategy was based on a critical case study in Querétaro. Free association questionnaires, semistructured interviews and risk maps were used, whose forms of analysis were through word association, thematic analysis and the analysis of demands and risks. The results show three central findings, first that the constituted character is based on the business strategy called lean iaq model, that causes the construction of the space represented under the core of accident prevention. Second, the constituent thought with which it contrasts, where the experience of the worker allows the emergence of a peripheral system with emancipatory representations of risks and demands not contemplated by the hegemonic ones. These situations generate discomfort that leads to sensitive objects for the appearance of new polemics representations that restructure the work process in iaq. The findings are discussed based on the situation to which the autoparts industry is subjected.