"Um propósito maior": uma investigação microssociológica do Movimento Empresa Júnior no Rio Grande do Norte

Abstract

This research has as object the activity of the Junior Enterprise Movement (MEJ) in the state of Rio Grande do Norte – the so-called “MEJ Potiguar”. The Junior Enterprise Movement is a type of association that takes on the proposal of promoting and spreading junior enterprises in universities (non-profit organizations formed by undergraduate students). The objective of the investigation was to understand the adhesion of junior entrepreneurs to the moral ideals of good life and good society advocated by the movement. For this, I carried out a field research based on the activities and the members of RN Júnior – a federation that represents and spreads the movement in that state. In addition to the analysis of official documents that guide the movement, there were two events of junior entrepreneurs observed in loco (even before the Covid-19 pandemic) and eight students were interviewed. In the first moment of the research presentation, I demonstrate how the movement's representative instances produce a “grammar” or “official narrative” that gives justifications and moral meanings to work and the pursuit of goals in junior enterprises. Then, I discuss how leaders seek to promote interactions and experiences for students that produce adherence in terms of sacralization and commitment to the movement. Finally, I carry out a characterization of the movement's acting as an actor in civil society based on how it intends to spread values and promote transformations in broader institutional domains.