Middle class or working class?: an empiric exercise based on the perceptions of teachers in Buenos Aires

Abstract

This study is part of broader research that seeks to understand if it is possible to conceptualize the recent transformations occurring in the conditions of existence of teachers as part of a process of proletarization. To do so, we use primary data collected from a representative sample of elementary and high school teachers in public and private establishments of “common education” in Buenos Aires. They were presented a questionnaire about their conditions of existence and about their perception of these conditions. The data that we present in this work constitute the first results of this study and refer strictly to the perceptions of those interviewed. We try to identify if the teachers represent themselves as workers, in what sense, and to what degree is this perception extended.