Politics and Economics in Collective Action: An Ethnographic Critique of Dichotic Premisses

Abstract

Distancing itself from the formal models that have served as an axis for studies of collective action and social movements, this article seeks to reinstate the lived dimension of political engagement. Based on ethnographic analysis of a set of neighborhoods in Greater Buenos Aires, it explores the multiple and heterogeneous ways in which people become involved in the so-called movimientos piqueteros. It indicates that these experiences become intelligible through their inscription in a wider plot of relationships and possibilities. Starting from a figurational perspective, the text discusses some of the assumptions of the literature regarding the piquetero organization in particular and social movements in general; it questions the dichotomy between material reason and politico-moral reason through which the question of the motive force of collective action has been addressed. Here, we question belief that a rigid opposition exists between the State and social movements, pointing to the creative and not merely cooptive character of state policies. Finally, we propose to sociologize the locus of the "the pleasure of doing" in the origin and continuity of political engagement.