María Luisa Méndez

Patrones culturales de uso del tiempo libre en Chile: Una aproximación desde la teoría Bourdieuana

Resumen es: En los ultimos anos, ha cobrado una creciente importancia el estudio de los patrones de participacion y gusto culturales. A este respecto, la obra del so...

EXCLUSIVIDAD Y FRAGMENTACIÓN: LOS PERFILES CULTURALES DE LA CLASE MEDIA EN CHILE

La literatura sociologica sobre la clase media alta, desarrollada fundamentalmente en la segunda parte del siglo XX, nos ha permitido conocer en detalle su comportamiento politico y cultural, principalmente en los casos de Europa occidental y Estados Unidos. De este trabajo podemos extraer dos tesis que con+ guran la imagen de esta clase social: la exclusividad y la fragmentacion. Exclusividad porque sus miembros muestran un comportamiento politico frecuentemente similar al de las clases mas altas de la sociedad y un patron cultural en donde el re+ namiento y la educacion han sido elementos centrales de su formacion como clase. Fragmentacion porque tanto su comportamiento politico como su aproximacion mas individualista a la actividad cultural estarian asociados a una importante heterogeneidad interna. Sin embargo, sobre todo a proposito de este segundo aspecto, su eventual division, existe mucha mas informacion sobre su comportamiento politico que sobre el que atiende a los gustos y la participacion cultural. El presente articulo toma como punto de partida las contribuciones previas y estudia para el caso chileno los per+ les de exclusividad y fragmentacion. En el caso del primer per+ l, enfrentamos a la clase media con lo que aqui entendemos como la clase obrera, a partir de cuya comparacion pueden identi+ carse orientaciones hacia la practica cultural muy diferentes entre ambas clases sociales. En lo que respecta a la fragmentacion, estamos ante una tematica mucho menos explorada en la sociologia y aqui proponemos una division que separa con claridad a los �profesionales� de las otras categorias ocupacionales que conforman esta clase. Ademas, estudiamos la estructura social de la fragmentacion de la clase media.

Struggles against Territorial Disqualification: Mobilization for Dignified Housing and Defense of Heritage in Santiago

A critical analysis of two conflicts associated with the displacement resulting from gentrification in Santiago, Chile, reveals that this displacement affects both the urban poor and the middle classes and that the common adversary is the real estate sector. The subjective experience of the groups involved can be understood in terms of the concept of territorial disqualification, a threat both to their positions in the social structure and to the recognition of the identities, personal and collective, that have been constructed about particular neighborhoods. The subject defended in struggles against territorial disqualification is the community. While class positions, specific demands, and territorial claims differ significantly, the structural framework in which neoliberal urbanism develops makes possible a confluence of class organizations that are susceptible to generating interclass strategies of opposition. El análisis crítico de dos conflictos asociados con el desplazamiento provocado por la gentrificación en Santiago de Chile, revela que el desplazamiento afecta tanto a la población urbana pobre como a las clases medias y que el adversario común es el sector de bienes raíces. La experiencia subjetiva de los grupos involucrados se puede entender si usamos el concepto de descalificación territorial, una amenaza tanto a sus posiciones en la estructura social como al reconocimiento de sus identidades, personales y colectivas, que han sido construidas con relación a ciertos vecindarios. La comunidad es el sujeto que se defiende en las luchas en contra de la descalificación territorial. Aunque las posiciones de clase, las demandas específicas y los reclamos territoriales difieren considerablemente, el marco estructural en el que se desarrolla el urbanismo neoliberal facilita la confluencia de organizaciones de clase que son susceptibles de generar estrategias de oposición interclasistas.

Lo auténtico también es público. Comprensión de lo público desde las clases medias en Chile

En este articulo, sobre la base de evidencia empirica cualitativa acerca de las clases medias en Chile, analizamos el enfoque pesimista de Richard Sennett sobre el futuro de lo publico. Mediante nuestra investigacion reciente, proponemos tres claves interpretativas – la intermitencia del paso de lo publico a lo privado, las tensiones que se generan entre ambos y finalmente la demanda por autenticidad como forma de apelar a lo publico – para entender la articulacion entre los espacios publicos y privados en la vida cotidiana. Si bien encontramos evidencia para respaldar las ideas de Sennett sobre la predominancia de lo privado por sobre lo publico, vemos que la historia reciente de Chile tambien ha obligado a los individuos y las familias a hacerse cargo de lo publico, desde lo privado.Resumen: En este artículo, sobre la base de evidencia empírica cualitativa acerca de las clases medias en Chile, analizamos el enfoque pesimista de Richard Sennett sobre el futuro de lo público. Mediante nuestra investigación reciente, proponemos tres claves interpretativas –la intermitencia del paso de lo público a lo privado, las tensiones que se generan entre ambos y finalmente la demanda por autenticidad como forma de apelar a lo público– para entender la articulación entre los espacios públicos y privados en la vida cotidiana. Si bien encontramos evidencia para respaldar las ideas de Sennett sobre la predominancia de lo privado por sobre lo público, vemos que la historia reciente de Chile también ha obligado a los individuos y las familias a hacerse cargo de lo público, desde lo privado. Palabras clave: espacio público, espacio privado, clases medias, Chile, Richard Sennett.

Frantic Lives and Practices of Socio-Cultural Differentiation

This chapter provides evidence of a connection between parents’ cultural engagement during their childhoods and the kind of involvement they favor for their own children. Additionally, we demonstrate and describe a neat interrelation between processes of cultural reproduction and social mobility into the higher ranks of society. In other words, we see that cultural activism is inscribed in people’s biographies, in a process similar to the one described in Chap. 3 regarding the relationship between residential and school choices and socio-spatial trajectories. We contend that the practices of cultural and social activism described here are also embedded in particular social networks of family, school friends, and work colleagues, all constituting effective social bonds that help reproduce social positioning.

Social Mobility over Time and in Space: Ascending Residential and Social Trajectories

This chapter examines the ways in which Santiago’s barrio alto has grown over the past decades, leading to high levels of social segregation of the most privileged. The offer of housing for the upper middle classes, and upward occupational mobility, has raised expectations of belonging to this class. Social and spatial mobility into and within the barrio alto is not, however, a random happenstance. It is structured along lines delineating less and more privileged places, trajectories, and settings. In this chapter, we explore various types of socio-spatial trajectories of our upper middle class interviewees, which demonstrate the imbricated relationships between intergenerational, occupational, and residential trajectories. Nevertheless, living and staying in the barrio alto is not a trivial matter even for the more privileged. Many actively struggle to be there, at the apex of the Chilean social pyramid.

Common Ground: On the Centrality of Residential and School Choice

This chapter demonstrates that expectations from residential and school choices are closely interrelated: those who have high expectations in one domain will have high expectations in the other. Over 40% of our upper middle class respondents report high expectations in areas such as educational and professional success and good and adequate environments for educational and cultural achievement, among others. Most importantly, expectations are also related to socio-spatial trajectories: those who have long occupied a privileged position inherited from their parents also have higher expectations from housing and schooling. We contend that residential choice is most definitely a priority in terms of a series of decisions or mix of choices. In choosing a place of residence, the upper middle class also takes into account the opinion of their intimate networks. They are mainly interested in the ways in which children may develop social capital at school. The upper middle class expects rather distinctive competences to be acquired at school. This group values the development of critical thinking, artistic competences, and a second language, among other skills.

Inheritors, Achievers, and Incomers: Wrapping Up a Multidimensional Approach to Social Reproduction

This chapter brings together the main findings from each chapter, to provide evidence that shows that social mobility and residential mobility are very significantly related, but that these two types of mobility are also associated with other components of everyday life that define upper middle class expectations, parenting practices, cultural repertoires, and politics. In this chapter, we propose a typology composed of three main clusters: Inheritors, Achievers, and Incomers. Taken together, these depict an internal class fragmentation in a dense and complex way. We also show how certain groups are most privileged in reproducing their positions, while others face particular constraints, which are not only material but also cultural and political.

Neither Conservatives nor Progressives: Fragmentation in the Cultural Repertoires of the Upper Middle Class

This chapter aims to present a comprehensive understanding of upper middle class (political) cultural repertoires in relation to a variety of topics of public interest, such as inequality, globalization, and meritocracy. Our purpose is to add another layer to the already complex depiction of a fragmented upper middle class, which we have unveiled throughout the previous chapters. We also, however, put forward the crosscutting argument that notwithstanding this fragmentation, we can see a remarkable internal coherence within each segment. This coherence is, we claim, one outcome of an ongoing process taking place intra- and inter-generationally, between partners, between parents and children, and between families and schools. We will demonstrate the existence of clear cultural repertoires related to politics which variously emphasize, inter alia, tolerance, (blind) obedience to rules versus a reflexive stance toward them, and globalized views on economics and culture, versus strong support for the status quo. Given these findings, we will contend that it is hardly possible to argue that we are in the presence of a homogenous upper middle class that became neoliberal. Rather, we are witnessing cultural repertoires that have proved to be effective, long-lasting, and tolerant enough to succeed in maintaining a dominant position. We will show that although the upper middle class exhibits some openness to progressive views, these views do not predominate. This is above all a class that exhibits a type of political fragmentation that works well in the service of its own reproduction. In order to fully understand the nuances and differences within the upper middle class, we show the characteristics of three clusters in relation to cultural repertoires: communitarian individualism, individualization, and networked pragmatism.

Tertiarization in Chile: cultural inequality and occupational structure

Tertiarization, or the shift to service economies with an increasing prevalence of non-manual occupations, has been identified as a central phenomenon in contemporary societies. With the purported numerical and political decline of traditional working-class sectors, the middle class has come to be seen in recent decades as the dominant one. This understanding of the way society has evolved has gone along with a growing interest in forms of social differentiation other than the occupational one of industrial societies, including cultural differentiation. This paper briefly reconstructs the debate and shows that while there may have been growth in non-manual occupations, prompting the notion of a progressive shift towards a middle-class society, some important findings make it difficult simply to accept the claim that Chile has become this kind of mesocratic society.