Abstract
In this paper, we intend to discuss the perceptions and positions concerning the social class issue from the standpoint of young men engaged in drug trafficking in the Great Vitória Metropolitan Area (RMGV). The empirical data consists on forty-five semi-structured interviews and participant observation, run by 18 months, in facilities for juvenile delinquents. In spite the fact that they could consider their daily criminal activities as “work”, they did not consider themselves as “workers”. We shall debate the distinction the subjects made between “laborers” and “vagabonds” in its moral implications, as well as source of income and in consumption. Hence, we will discuss how this group perceives issues concerning work ethics and social class. We intend to evince how moral issues are employed in these classifications, concerning criminal condemnation and possibilities of consumption - either due to ilegitimity of the money that comes from criminal activity, or due to instability of crime-life.
Keywords
Social class; class belonging; work ethics; crime-life; juvenile delinquency