The Documentary Dispatchers and the Re-Signification of Professionalism as a Moral Device

Abstract

The article deals with the moral struggles over the legitimacy to do the work of document clearing, concentrating on the professional trajectory of documentalist brokers, the Sao Paulo document emitting services, and the changes in the Sao Paulo Department of Motor Vehicles. In the occupational practices and the public image of the “jeitinho” as an unofficial way of obtaining documents, the brokers have mobilized creatively the repertory of professionalism as a moral dispositive. The research includes a survey research with 107 brokers of Sao Paulo state, primary and secondary research documents, and interviews with professional leaderships.