Upward Social Mobility in Chile: The Negotiation of Class and Ethnic Identities

Abstract

This article examines how upward mobility affects both class and ethnic social positioning of Mapuche indigenous people in Chile. The article builds on cultural class analysis dominated by Bourdieusian approaches, suggesting the incorporation of an intersectional and postcolonial lens, considering the ways in which ethnicity complicates classed trajectories, focusing on class mobility and indigeneity. Drawing on 40 life history interviews of first-generation Mapuche professionals, the analysis reveals complex and varied responses to social mobility. The interviewees display three groups of responses: the ‘mobile-accommodators’, embracing deracinated middle-class identities; the ‘rooted’, asserting connections with working-class and Mapuche origins; and the ‘resignifiers’, embracing a more ambivalent class identity, but articulating a strong sense of Mapuche identity. The experience of upward social mobility represents a challenge to the respondents’ sense of class position, class and ethnic identities, as they have had to manage indigenous identity claims across their social origins and destinations.

Transiciones educativas de jóvenes en contexto rural mapuche: experiencia, aspiraciones e identidad

“…Los hallazgos encontrados presentan similitud con algunos estudios anteriores en los que se señala: 1) la relevancia de las familias en la contención emocional y social frente a posibles discriminaciones o experiencias vistas desde el no reconocimiento de ser mapuche (Aravena et al, 2019;Mendoza-Zapata, 2022;Mellor et al, 2009), así como la agencia personal de estudiantes frente a procesos de exclusión y discriminación (Mendoza-Zapata, 2022;Vásquez-Palma et al, 2022); 2) la importancia de generar espacios educativos desde una perspectiva intercultural decolonizadora que genere participación e inclusión de fondos de conocimiento e identidad del pueblo mapuche (Muñoz, 2021); 3) el rol de la escuela y de los internados como espacios de disciplina y adoctrinamiento de una iden-tidad de estudiante más focalizada en los estudios hegemónicos y con foco en la identidad nacional, que alejan a los individuos jóvenes de sus contextos familiares y de su pertenencia de origen (Mansilla et al, 2018); 4) la débil existencia de espacios de reconocimiento o expresión de identidades mapuche en las escuelas, lo que genera con#guraciones identitarias que van desde la negación y la matización hasta la reivindicación de identidades mapuche en estudiantes (Aravena et al, 2019;Rain, 2022;Sepúlveda, 2022;Szulc, 2015;Vásquez-Palma et al, 2022).…”

“…Así, al existir ciertas identidades mal vistas o poco reconocidas en contextos educativos, a veces los sujetos las niegan, las matizan o reivindican sus posicionamientos (Reay, 2010;Sepúlveda, 2022;Serrano, 2015). Otras investigaciones señalan que en niños y niñas mapuche, al no existir espacios de expresión y reconocimiento en diversas instituciones, se con#guran identidades incompletas o identidades negadas (Hernández, 2003, como es citado en Rain, 2022.…”

‘He is My Refuge’: Upward Mobility, Class Dislocation and Romantic Relationships

“…Importantly, though, upward mobility does not create a consistently homogenous experience. Beyond or intersecting with class, a vast research documents how the mobility experience is also contingent on gender (Ingram, 2011; Lawler, 1999; Wilson et al, 2021), ethnicity (Rollock et al, 2014; Sepúlveda, 2023; Shahrokni, 2015) and specific geographical displacements (Miles and Leguina, 2018). In a similar vein, Friedman (2016) argues that higher inequality increases the distances the upwardly mobile have to travel in the social space, and more extended range mobility – unlike mid- or short-range trajectories – increases the likelihood of class dislocation and a painful mobility experience.…”

“…Amid this extensive sociological research, however, we still know surprisingly little about the relationships contributing to reinforcing or reducing the class dislocation usually tied to upward mobility. Tackling this is significant as research also demonstrates that the experience of upward mobility varies considerably depending on gender (Ingram, 2011;Lawler, 1999;Wilson et al, 2021), ethnicity (Rollock et al, 2014;Sepúlveda, 2023;Shahrokni, 2015) and specific geographical displacements (Miles and Leguina, 2018). To a larger or lesser extent, these factors can deepen or mitigate the class dislocation that often goes hand in hand with upward mobility.…”

strategies to promote dignified and feminist academia: some collaborative reflections from Chile

“…As in other countries, the pandemic made more visible inequalities that already existed in Chile. The neoliberal model adopted during the dictatorship (1973)(1974)(1975)(1976)(1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989), which removed the state's social obligations to citizens and strengthened market competition and individual efforts to achieve social outcomes (Sepúlveda, 2023), affected the academic landscape by perpetuating heteropatriarchal and colonial ideologies, shaping the experiences and opportunities of individuals in academia (Ortiz, 2017). Chilean academia has historically been dominated by male perspectives, with men usually holding positions of power and authority.…”