O ethos empresarial e a pandemia de covid-19: Uma análise dos argumentos de empresários brasileiros contrários ao distanciamento social

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the arguments of businessmen against social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research problem: which business values are present and absent in these arguments and their ethical implications? The theoretical foundation is based on theories about moral values and studies on business/corporate values. The methodological procedures were conducted with the use of argumentative analysis, which offers a guide for the collection and qualitative analysis of data. For data collection, documentary research was used, conducted through research techniques on the internet and websites: newspaper reports, magazines and videos. The results show a common aspect in the businessmen's arguments: a false dilemma, since they argue that either the country's economy survives or the people survive. The conclusion of the arguments is that the pandemic will cause deaths, but it seems to make no sense for these entrepreneurs to choose to protect people, so that these people, alive and healthy, can contribute productively to the growth of companies and the economy. The values present in the speeches of the entrepreneurs are the survival of the economy and the missing values are the survival of the people. The presence of scientific denialism and an ideological discourse explain a business ethos incapable of recognizing that the economy cannot survive without people and that it treats the economy as an absolute value and human life does not. People's survival is seen as an absent or contingent value, that is, “which depends”, as long as it does not impact the survival of companies and the country's economy. This research contributes to studies on corporate values in times of crisis and pandemic; and to the understanding of the practical implications of these values for the relationship between companies and society, since the corporate ethos concerns the way in which organizations can influence the practices and the subjectivities in a given time and place, from what is said and understood as the right thing to do.