Para além da subordinação: crítica ontológica e reconstrução normativa do Direito do Trabalho no capitalismo de plataforma

Abstract

This study investigates the adequacy of legal subordination as the foundation and criterion for the application of Labor Law in the context of contemporary transformations of capitalism, particularly with the expansion of platform-based work. The research problem consists in determining whether the traditional category of subordination, developed within the industrial model, is still capable of adequately capturing new forms of control, dependency, and labor organization. The general objective is to critically analyze the ontological, normative, hermeneutical, and rhetorical limits of legal subordination, as well as to propose alternative foundations better suited to current realities. The specific objectives include: (i) reconstructing subordination as a technology of power; (ii) examining its crisis within platform capitalism; (iii) identifying its insufficiencies as an exclusive criterion for legal protection; and (iv) developing the categories of economic dependency and structural asymmetry as bases for reconfiguring Labor Law. The research adopts a theoretical-dogmatic methodology with an interdisciplinary approach, integrating contributions from legal theory, social philosophy, and labor sociology. It concludes that the centrality of this category is insufficient in light of new productive dynamics, requiring its relativization and the incorporation of criteria based on economic dependency and structural asymmetry of power. These categories prove to be more suitable for capturing situations of vulnerability and for guiding the reconstruction of Brazilian Labor Law, preserving its historical function of protecting workers against structural inequalities.