The XIII Union Congress of the PIT CNT “Wladimir Turiansky”

an ethnographic observational approach

Abstract

The trade union congresses constitute the highest instance of authority of the trade unions, but at the same time fulfill other functions, and offer a condensation of elements that help to
understand cultural aspects of trade unionism that often appear elusive to the analysis. In this sense, the ethnographic observation of the congresses, as proposed by Béroud and Denis (2015), offers a useful tool to capture and incorporate them into the analysis. However, in order to be able to approach these types of instances as an observer, it is necessary to make explicit certain categories of prior understanding, which sociologist constructs based on the categories of understanding of the actors involved. On this occasion, within the framework of the project “Uruguayan Trade Unionism in the process of building a Culture of Work for Development” (R + D CSIC, 2017-2018), the observation of the XIII Congress of the PIT-CNT of Uruguay was developed. In this article we present the categories of understanding with which we approach the phenomenon, as well as the main results of the observation.