“The union is like a family father, the chief”. Working-class making and (re) making and union membership experiences in two generations of Argentinian metalworkers

SOUL, JULIA

Dialectical Anthropology

Springer

Lugar: Nueva York; Año: 2019 p. 1 - 15

0304-4092

The article points to the broad discussion of the relationship between unions and workers as a key problem for understandings of working-classes dynamics. Inspired by a set of recent research findings, the paper highlights membership as a changing experience, crossed not only by administrative or bureaucratical bonds but also by political, ideological and cultural ones, casting a relational approach to membership as an active relationship, linking individual and collective dimensions of workforce-seller social configuration. Through the comparison of membership experience developed by two generations of Argentinian steelworkers - the one that went across the restructuring process and the one that accessed a ?global? workplace ? the article assess the daily practices reproducing membership and shaping workers? collectives as political subjects dealing with austerity measures and management politics.