Lógica institucional do estado e sensemaking: uma abordagem interpretativa sob a ótica de produtores mineiros de cachaça artesanal

Abstract

The relationship between the Brazilian State and the artisanal cachaça sector has historically been marked by several conflicts that resonate until today. Although the State, since the mid- 1980s, has taken a more receptive stance to the demands of this field, promoting actions for the symbolic, commercial and productive development of the beverage, the sector still presents several indications of inconsistencies with the State's performance, characterized by factors such as the expressive number of informal producers, the frequent irregular production practices, and the constant confrontation with the negative social connotation associated with beverage, and encouraged by the State in other times. In that sense, questions appear as critical points of the sector's incorfomity with the State, suggesting broad investigations about this relationship. In view of these problems, this work is anchored in the theoretical lens of institutional logic and sensemaking to understand the meanings attributed to the institutional logic that marks the State's performance in the field of artisanal cachaça. The institutional logics allowed us to understand which guidelines and influences guide the State's actions in the sector,while sensemaking made it possible to understand the ways in which cachaça producers perceive, interpret and respond to these actions. The qualitative and descriptive research was carried out through semi-structured interviews. Information was collected from twenty-four agents working in the cachaça field, divided into micro and small producers located in the south of the State of Minas Gerais, government employees who work directly in the field, and managers of entities representing the sector. In addition, the research used documentary information of various types, such as laws, newsletters, official State documents and sector diagnoses. The information was analyzed using the content analysis technique. The categories analyzed were the policies for valuing cachaça, the tax configurations of the sector, the regulations of the field, the inspection process in producing companies, the performance of representative organizations in relation to the State, and governmental aspects. The research results characterize the formation of the artisanal cachaça field in relation to the State. In general, it was observed, by the producers, collective understandings that the State is not very active in relation to the valorization of the beverage, discourages the formalization of producing enterprises by setting high taxes and complex and unstable production rules, and maintains a punitive conduct in inspection activities. Among the effects of these interpretations, there are informal practices for selling cachaça, frequent infrastructure changes, emphasis on the nationality and cultural value of the product, and requests for the State to inspect illegal organizations. In addition to these, the research point to institutional movements of interlocutions with the State to change the tax contours, reduce informality in the sector, encourage the social acceptance of the beverage as a socio-cultural element and differentiate it from the cachaça produced on an industrial scale. Broadly, seven elements were perceived as potential factors of sensemaking in the studied problem: tax configurations, inspection, reactions to the agency, changes in the historical course, legislation, government configurations, and organizational reorganizations.