Uses and abuses in the labor world: the social disqualification of workers in the nineteenth century, in the region of Cariri, Province of Ceará

Abstract

The Constitution of 1824 ensured formally the legal equality to Braziliancitizens, however; the permanency of slavery and restriction of political rights of largesections of the population were characteristics of Brazil in the nineteenth century. Amongthe liberal rhetoric and the practice of rulers and dominant classes there was a process ofsocial disqualification of the free and enslaved workers. This article analyzes the discourseof disqualification and presents some measures and laws which aimed at subjecting thoseworkers in the region of Cariri, Province of Ceará.