Outsourcing

The phenomenon of subcontracting through the Marxist critique of the legal form

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to investigate the phenomenon of service outsourcing, mainly in Brazil. To this end, it will initially carry out a historical investigation into its emergence worldwide, reaching the conclusion that outsourcing originated in countries of central capitalism and, afterwards, it was taken to countries of peripheral capitalism such as Brazil. Then, the legal rules that regulated this contract will be analyzed, initially through laws restricting specialized activities, passing through the rules of the Superior Labor Court, and, finally, the labor reform laws of 2017 and decision by the Supreme Court of the legal action nº. 324, about constitutionality of outsourcing. Finally, it will analyze the theme in the light of the Marxist critique of law. It concludes that outsourcing initially laid concrete foundations in Brazilian production, and then businessmen sought their “legalization”, as it is a contract that manages to extend the extraction of more value by economic areas previously understood as unproductive by Marxist theory.