Informality, Class and Union Activism Uniting what Capital Divides in Argentina

Prologue by Michael Burawoy  1. Introduction  2. Class and informality in Latin America: A defense of the Marxist approach  3. A multi-method study of class and informality  4. Informality, class structure and class identities in Argentina: testing the Marxist hypothesis.  5. Union organizing in the workplace: The politics of informal and precarious work under three factory regimes.  6. Union organizing in the neighborhood: Labor revitalization in a fragmented urban landscape.  7. Conclusion

Biography

Rodolfo Elbert is a career researcher at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), where he holds the rank of Independent Researcher. He is based at the Gino Germani Research Institute and is Professor of Sociology, both at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

‘Informality, Class and Union Activism is a remarkable book, challenging longstanding assumptions about how the enduring effects of neoliberalism and labor precarity have weakened worker solidarity. Focusing on how Argentina’s workers and activists have responded to changing workplace dynamics, Rodolfo Elbert analyses both qualitative and quantitative data to show how activists have mobilized informal workers and coordinated with traditional unions, giving us a new sense of what an inclusive 21st century labor movement might look like.’
Gay Seidman, Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA


This book offers a compelling exploration of class structure and labor politics during the progressive cycle in Latin America. Rodolfo Elbert combines statistical analyses of class and informality with a rich qualitative case study of factory politics to uncover the micropolitics of segmented corporatism, showing how union strategies at the workplace can challenge or reinforce the socio-economic segmentation of the working class. Theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich, this book makes an important contribution to contemporary debates on labor organization, class inequality, and worker representation. It is essential reading for scholars of labor, class, and political economy in Latin America and beyond.
Pablo Pérez-Ahumada, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Chile, Chile.