Fables of Development: Capitalism and Social Imaginaries in Spain (1950-1967)

This book explores the paradoxical portrayal of the "Spanish economic miracle" in cultural fictions and social life during Spain's transition from autocracy to industrial and tourist development. It examines cultural archives to analyze the social imaginaries of a majority living in precariousness and without sufficient income to acquire consumer goods.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 01 June 2023
Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Fables of Development: Capitalism and Social Imaginaries in Spain (1950-1967) delves into a fundamental paradox: why did the so-called "Spanish economic miracle" – a purportedly secular, rational, and technocratic process – become fictionalized through providential narratives that often incorporated supernatural and extraordinary elements? To unravel this enigma, this book explores cultural fictions and social life during Spain's transition from autocracy to the ambitious project of industrial and tourist development. Beyond the narratives of progress, modernity, and consumer satisfaction on a global and national scale, the cultural archives of the period yield insightful revelations about the aspirations of a socio-economic majority who grappled with precariousness and lacked the means to acquire the consumer goods that were relentlessly advertised. By scrutinizing interdisciplinary archives, including literary texts, cinema, newsreels, comics, and journalistic sources, each chapter offers an in-depth analysis of the social imaginaries surrounding the circulation and distribution of capital and resources during the period from 1950, when General Francisco's government initiated its integration into international markets and institutions following agreements with the United States, to 1967, when the implementation of the First Development Plan (1964-1967) reached its culmination.

Weight: 460g
Dimension: 163 x 243 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781802078053