Proletarian Lives

Proletarian Lives is a book that examines how workers affected by job loss in Argentina protect their traditional forms of life by engaging in progressive grassroots mobilization. Marcos Pérez argues that participation in the movement offers the opportunity to engage in age and gender-specific practices associated with a respectable blue-collar lifestyle, reconstructing routines associated with a golden past and protecting communal activities.

Format: Paperback
Length: 260 pages
Publication date: 03 August 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Proletarian Lives is a groundbreaking work that delves into the lives of workers affected by job loss and their remarkable efforts to protect their traditional forms of life through progressive grassroots mobilization. Conducted over several years of ethnographic fieldwork on the Unemployed Workers Movement in Argentina, also known as the piqueteros, this book offers a comprehensive case study of the experiences and strategies of these workers.

Through life-history interviews and participant observation, the author meticulously examines the factors that drive some activists to become deeply committed to the movement, despite initial reluctance and frequent ideological differences. Marcos Pérez, the author, argues that a significant allure of participation lies in the opportunity to engage in age and gender-specific practices that are associated with a respectable blue-collar lifestyle, which is threatened by long-term socioeconomic decline.

Through their daily involvement in the movement, older participants reconstruct the routines they associate with a golden past, where factory jobs were plentiful and life was more secure. Younger activists, on the other hand, develop the kind of habits they were raised to see as valuable, contributing to the movement's vitality and resilience. Moreover, all members of the movement work tirelessly to protect communal activities that are undermined by the expansion of poverty and violence.

Proletarian Lives is a profound exploration of the human spirit and the resilience of workers in the face of adversity. It sheds light on the complex dynamics that shape grassroots mobilization and offers valuable insights into the ways in which workers can fight for their rights and dignity. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in social movements, labor studies, and the struggles of marginalized communities.

Weight: 402g
Dimension: 152 x 229 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781009015936