Social Representations about the Argentina Trabaja Program among Low Income Urban Classes

Abstract

This article analyzes social representations about one of the most important social policy initiatives in Argentina today. It studies the social representations that low income urban residents associate to Program Argentina Trabaja Program [Argentina Work Program]. It is based on the hypothesis that these representatives can be read through a dual filter. They reflect the residues of the reforms inspired by the protests at the beginning of the century, and also their remission to the classic meanings inscribed in the legitimate forms of access to social protections and income from salaried work. These representations are based on a language shared
among the urban lower class, the language of social plans. The study is based on the interpretation of a series of semi-structured interviews conducted in 2011 in the second cordón of Greater Buenos Aires.