Extractivism, production and challenge of inequalities in Argentina

Abstract

This article analyzes how inequalities are produced, legitimized and challenged in an oil city in Patagonia Argentina. First, it examines the way inequalities are expressed in the forms of access to housing. After showing that inequalities are not always expressed in the territory, the decoupling between income and symbolic hierarchies is examined. Subsequently, the strategies deployed by those who perceive themselves as traditional groups which focus on preserving a threatened social order are studied. Paradoxically, the challenge to the classification system does not imply questioning the principles that naturalize the existing social order.