Lifestyles among Military Police soldiers: “Being a Brigadier” or “Working in the Brigade”

The Military Brigade (BM), Military Police of Rio Grande do Sul, currently has more than 60% of its workforce composed of soldiers. The objective of this thesis is to verify how the lifestyles and agency they admit allow us to understand the meanings of belonging to the profession of Military Brigade soldiers. The fieldwork was carried out between 2007 and 2009 in the professional and personal daily lives of the interlocutors, military police officers from the 22nd Military Police Battalion of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, headquartered in Lajeado. In the fieldwork for the thesis, a form filled out by the researcher during the ethnographic meetings was also used. The results pointed to differences between forms of adherence to the prescribed professional identity and lifestyles among those who consider themselves “brigadiers” and those who “work in the Brigade,” distinctions associated with social origins, acquired symbolic and cultural capital, and worldviews limited to the social structure and rules of the profession. The study concludes on the diversity of lifestyles associated with the profession.