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The Dream of Dignified Work: On Good and Bad Utopias

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  • Amrita Chhachhi
  • Ana Cecilia Dinerstein

Abstract

type="main"> To what extent are recent labour upsurges defensive struggles? This essay uses the experience of the Argentinean Movement of Unemployed Workers (also called the Piquetero movement) as the empirical basis for discussing the contribution of unemployed workers to the current reshaping of the labour question. The author offers an alternative interpretation of the Piqueteros’ experience of resistance that emphasizes their critique and alternative visions, and the transformations and alternatives that the movement put forward at a time when ‘labour’ was said to be defeated. The struggles of the unemployed workers in Argentina during the 1990s should not be classified as a defensive struggle for inclusion in the labour market, or as a demand for social security (although these demands were significant in the Piqueteros’ agenda); rather they should be seen as advancing significant changes at identity/organizational, socioeconomic and political institutional levels. These changes deserve special attention in terms of their significance for the reshaping of the labour question in the twenty-first century. The Piquetero utopia of dignified work does not rely on state policy such as Universal Income Support. Instead, the state and policy are mediations of the autonomous struggle for the prefigurations of a better society.

Suggested Citation

  • Amrita Chhachhi & Ana Cecilia Dinerstein, 2014. "The Dream of Dignified Work: On Good and Bad Utopias," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(5), pages 1037-1058, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:45:y:2014:i:5:p:1037-1058
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/dech.12118
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Candelaria Garay, 2007. "Social Policy and Collective Action: Unemployed Workers, Community Associations, and Protest in Argentina," Politics & Society, , vol. 35(2), pages 301-328, June.
    2. Ana Cecilia Dinerstein & Séverine Deneulin, 2012. "Hope Movements: Naming Mobilization in a Post-development World," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(2), pages 585-602, March.
    3. Ronaldo Munck, 2013. "The Precariat: a view from the South," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(5), pages 747-762.
    4. Matthew Cole, 2008. "Sociology contra government? The contest for the meaning of unemployment in UK policy debates," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(1), pages 27-43, March.
    5. Frank Moulaert & Oana Ailenei, 2005. "Social Economy, Third Sector and Solidarity Relations: A Conceptual Synthesis from History to Present," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(11), pages 2037-2053, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alf Gunvald Nilsen, 2021. "Give James Ferguson a Fish," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(1), pages 3-25, January.

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