Class identity in times of social mobilization and labor union revitalization: evidence from the case of Chile (2009–2019)
- Authors
- Pablo Pérez Ahumada
- Valentina Andrade de la Horra
Over the past decade, there has been a revival of social protest and labor union activity in Chile. In this article, we examine the effects of this phenomenon to analyze its influence on working-class identity. Using ISSP (International Social Survey Programme) surveys from 2009 and 2019, we investigate whether class location and union membership affect people’s subjective identification with the working class, and how that effect may have changed over the decade. Our findings suggest that subjects who are situated in a “subordinated” class position (unskilled workers or informal self-employed workers) are more likely to identify with the working class compared to subjects located in a privileged class position (employers, experts, or managers). However, surprisingly, our analysis does not indicate that working-class identity is reinforced by union membership. In addition, our results do not demonstrate that the effect of class or union membership has strengthened over the past decade. At the end of this article, we offer some possible explanations for these findings.
Keywords: working-class identity; social class; union membership; social mobilization; neoliberalism; Chile
Este artículo fue desarrollado en el marco del proyecto FONDECYT N°11190229 "Determinantes institucionales y políticos del conflicto entre empresarios y trabajadores: los casos de Argentina y Chile en perspectiva comparada", dirigido por Pablo Pérez Ahumada, profesor asistente del departamento de sociología de la Universidad Alberto Hurtado (UAH) e investigador asociado al Centro de Estudios del Conflicto y Cohesión Social (COES).
Para más información ver el sitio del proyecto Fábrica de Datos Laborales