The subjective revolution: society and culture in post-2008 spain
- Autores: Marta Lobato Rodriguez
- Directores de la Tesis: José Luis Molina González (dir. tes.), Hugo Valenzuela García (codir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona ( España ) en 2018
- Idioma: español
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Susana Narotzky (presid.), Isidro Maya Jariego (secret.), Gregoris Ioannou (voc.)
- Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Antropología Social y Cultural por la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona
- Materias:
- Enlaces
- Tesis en acceso abierto en: TESEO
- Resumen
The research upon which this thesis is based took place in the context of the economic crisis that hit Southern Europe and other regions of the world in 2008. Considering the changes that scholars were pointing at, such as the further de-regulation of the labour market, the cuts in public spending, and the rising levels of inequality, I sought to find specific answers to the questions: In what ways have socio-economic transformations following the crisis changed the lives of ‘middle’ and ‘lower-middle’ segments of the Spanish and Cypriot societies? And, what are the structural and qualitative foundations (ideas, narratives, beliefs) informing these new inequalities? For this purpose, fieldwork was carried out in different settings and locations in Spain, and to a lesser extent, in Cyprus.
This thesis proposes that experiences of precarious work, and the increasing difficulties with managing the productive and reproductive life spheres, have created a disjuncture with the middle-class project that European welfare states pursued after the 70s with the rise of financialization and global capitalism. Despite the continuities of this project, recent processes have led to rising inequalities between the middle and lower-income groups.
As a way of sustaining class expectations, the so called ‘middle classes’ emerge once again as a symbolic class that stands much closer to the neoliberal ideals of the elites than to the truly dispossessed. In today’s flexibility paradigm, we see a restructuring of what I term ‘the political economy of values’ and the expectations that prompt workers to sell their labour. The thesis title “The subjective revolution” encapsulates the cultural world through which symbols are mobilized and re-invented, alluding to the incredible resourcefulness with which the dispossessed middle-income groups have reacted to the crisis and its aftermath.
What is the mechanism by which such a restructuring of the political economy of values is taking place? By understanding that this recent wave of worsening labour conditions has required a new ‘abstraction’ of labour value through cultural and symbolic means, I conclude that further alienation prevents people from identifying current political practices with ‘unfreedom’. Thus, I conclude that the idea of the flexible worker was brought into play again after the 2008 financial crash as a symbol whose purpose is to keep the cultural aspirations of this symbolic class awake and its politics asleep.
