The contradictions of class and ideology among argentine laborers and employees

This article compares Argentine trade union laborers' and employees' notions of class and ideology. The research findings were based on one-to-one structured, but openended interviews with 110 rank and file workers of Greater Buenos Aires between 1985 and 1986. Rather than a study of union structure or labor leadership, it fleshes out workers' views beyond the factory walls and office windows. The research depicts the complex, seemingly contradictory, variety of social-democratic, liberal, and conservative values and attitudes carried by the Argentine working class. Peronism remains the ideological anchor of many workers who, nevertheless, consider themselves centrist, left or right. They are centrist in their support of a liberal-capitalist economy, left in their espousal of markedly better income distribution for workers, and right in the defense of their communities and neighborhoods. Workers' historical connections, cultural outlooks, and educational levels impact heavily upon their views of democracy and sense of class. Peter Ranis is a professor of political science at York College and the Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York. He has completedArgentine Workers: Peronism and Class Consciousness, to be published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 1992. The research for this article was made possible by a Fulbright Senior Research Grant and several PSC/ CUNY awards between 1986 and 1990. My thanks also go to the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella of Buenos Aries and the Centro de Investigaciones Sociales Sabre el Estado y la Administracíon (CISEA) for respectively making their facilities available to me in July and August of 1987 and 1990.