Vínculos sociais e felicidade: um estudo sobre as relações humanas na economia solidária

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the dynamics of bonding relations and their relation with Happiness. Since ancient times, this theme is subject of political and philosophical discussions and creates much controversy. The premise that individual happiness is connected with the happiness of everyone relates to modern politics, consolidating the current economical system. The study of societies dating prior to modern societies, as well as the study of non-western societies subvert this way of seeing the individual/society relationship. The individual choices are part of a dynamic of social organization of production and reproduction of life. The social bonds are the link between individual and society, as well as the most important condition for one to live a good life. Facing this paradigmatic change of seeing human nature in dialectic movement with the collective, we use as reference the anthropological studies of Mauss about gift and Polanyi's thesis that human nature is social and economy is one of human life's dimensions. Adopting the groundwork laid by these authors, we consider the formulations of their followers to understand the dynamics of human life within social organizations – namely, Sabourin and his studies on reciprocity in Mauss and Polanyi, and Geiger's theoretical systematization about the quality of bonding relations. The concept of happiness as we assume it is a feeling that arises from the articulation of objective and subjective conditions. To Damásio, feeling is the expression of an emotion that comes from a sensation of the body related to a subjective perception of this body expression. Feeling involves body and soul, being visible in a person's expression. Building on that groundwork, we adopt the concept of happiness presented by Gaiger as a feeling that arises from a state of peace and consistent well-being, anchored to what we judge quintessential to life, to our achievements' trajectory and to a global evaluation of the life we live. Taking Solidarity Economy as empirical object, we seek foundations to the understanding of happiness through the theory of social bonds, which has as a foundation the theoretical conception about gift of Mauss and Polanyi's reciprocity, using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Starting from the analysis of matters from the base of information of the Second Mapping and the sample research of the associates in Solidarity Economy, we demonstrated that the solidarity enterprises are committed and that bonds are motivating for the entry and permanence of associates in Solidarity Enterprises. For the qualitative research, we went into the field and interviewed 22 people of four different sectors: six family farmers, two of which from remaining quilombola communities; six artisan fishermen; four women from a food cooperative and six from a co-op of recyclable materials collectors. We concluded that the bonds are important for people to stay in the cooperatives and that having reciprocity as a vector, bonds can transform negative self-image into positive self-image, making people evaluate themselves as happy.