New Times Are Still Coming, Old Times Are Still Leaving: Notes about Young People’s Participation and Union Traditions in Contemporary Argentina

Abstract

This chapter proposes an approach to the contemporary relationship between young workers and trade unions in Argentina, from the standpoint of a socio-anthropology of work and trade unions (Leite Lopes, 2013; Durrenberger and Reichart, 2010; Rodríguez, Soul et al., 2005). Contemporary socio-anthropological approaches focus on everyday social relationships and social actors’ meanings and practices, which provide further insights into how hegemonic processes develop into situated day-to-day relationships. In this way, the research about trade unions and workers addresses everyday relationships between union officials, delegates and rank-and-file workers. The ‘ethnographic question’ is about the sociocultural processes and mechanisms through which union delegates and leaders become ‘representative’ of their co-workers, being able to express — and contribute to shaping — their demands and grievances, beyond the institutional labour relations system.