The identity of class in Latin America: Objective class position and subjective class identification in Argentina and Chile (2009)

Abstract

Class identity is a key mechanism in the explanation of class-based collective action. For decades, this was particularly relevant in Latin America, where objective class inequality was persistent and there was a long history of collective action, originating in the workplace and expressed through unions and labor parties. Despite persistent inequalities in the region, since the 1990s scholars increasingly claimed that the relation between objective class position and subjective class identification weakened significantly, and that class dynamics centered on work were no longer central to explain group formation and collective action among the popular sectors. While in countries like Argentina scholars have explained these processes by focusing on the effects of the de-industrialization of the economy and the informalization of the job market, in Chile analysts have done so by emphasizing the growth of the service sector and the emergence of a middle-class society where ‘old-fashioned’ working-class identities have become irrelevant. This article questions these arguments based on a comparative analysis of the relationship between objective class position and subjective class identification in Argentina and Chile in 2009. The results show that class still matters. In both countries, people with a working-class position or a working-class trajectory are significantly more likely to uphold working-class identity than individuals with a privileged class position or trajectory. Surprisingly, the authors’ analysis also demonstrates that the overall rates of working-class identification are higher in Chile than in Argentina. The authors explain these unexpected results by looking at contemporary class-related phenomena (e.g. higher inequality and economic concentration in Chile) and longer-term class dynamics (particularly differences stemming from the ‘radical’ party–union configuration in Chile and the state-corporatist incorporation of labor in Argentina).

Clase, política y percepción del conflicto de clases en Chile

“…Otros estudios han llegado a conclusiones similares a las de Wright. Estos han demostrado que la posición de la clase de los individuos es, al denotar su lugar en las relaciones de producción, un determinante relevante de la identidad de clase, de sus intereses de clase (por ejemplo, sus preferencias redistributivas) y de sus percepciones de conflicto clases (Dodson, 2017;Edlund y Lindh, 2015;Elbert y Pérez, 2018;Langsaether y Evans, 2020;Robison y Stubager, 2018). Por ejemplo, Dodson (2017) ha demostrado que quienes pertenecen a la clase trabajadora tienen más probabilidades de apoyar políticas redistributivas vía impuestos que quienes pertenecen a la clase de profesionales y ejecutivos, mientras que en su estudio de una veintena de países desarrollados Edlund y Lindh (2015) concluyen que las personas de clase trabajadora perciben más conflicto de clases que las personas de clase privilegiada.…”

“…Como complemento de este tipo de investigaciones centradas en la posición de clases, otros analistas han afirmado que la clase social se manifiesta no solo como posición "objetiva" en las relaciones de producción, sino que también en términos "subjetivos", es decir, como identidad de clase (Fantasia, 1988;Thompson, 1966). En socio-logía, la identidad de clase ha sido muchas veces estudiada a través de modelos estadísticos que la analizan como "variable dependiente", es decir, que estudian cómo diversos factores sociodemográficos afectan la autoidentificación de las personas con una clase en particular (Andersen y Curtis, 2012;Elbert y Pérez, 2018;Hout, 2008;Oddsson, 2018;Vanneman y Cannon, 1987). Sin embargo, al notar cómo la autoidentificación de clase expresa procesos subjetivos a través de los cuales las personas se definen así mismas como parte de una clase, diversos autores han afirmado que esta es un factor -esto es, una "variable independiente"-que refuerza los intereses sociopolíticos de las personas.…”

Naming oneself in the social mirror: A vignette-based survey

“…In this context and from the perspective of daily life, the way in which individuals comprehend and express their position within social hierarchies is crucial to understanding social order. Each individual seeks to answer the often very personal question of whether he or she is as socially valuable as others (Sennett and Cobb, 1972) in a hierarchical order (Castillo et al, 2013; Elbert and Pérez, 2018; Salata, 2015).…”

“…This has influenced the study of social inequalities as a structural and objective phenomenon, although the present article focuses on achieving a better understanding of the subjective appreciation of social differences by individuals themselves. A series of studies have shown that people in the region tend to identify as middle class (Castillo et al, 2013; Lora and Fajardo, 2011; Neri, 2008), although other research has tempered this assessment (Elbert and Pérez, 2018; MacClure et al, 2019; Salata, 2015). The discussion regarding subjective belonging to social classes posits fundamental questions that have not been sufficiently examined.…”

The middle classes and the subjective representation of urban space in Santiago de Chile

“…The subjectivities that characterise Latin America’s middle classes have been investigated in various empirical studies, which analyse the number of individuals who consider themselves as belonging to the middle class (Castillo et al, 2013; Elbert and Pérez, 2018; Lora and Fajardo, 2011; Salata, 2015; Valenzuela et al, 2008), the material and symbolic role of consumption within the definition of their identities (Franco et al, 2010), their feelings of positional instability (Martuccelli and Araujo, 2011) and their thoughts on inequality (Castillo et al, 2013; Costa, 2009; Mac-Clure and Barozet, 2016), among other factors. In this article, we concentrate on subjectivities of the middle classes relative to the ways in which they classify themselves and others within urban space.…”