Dimensions of self-constitution and inequality in the narratives of the middle-class in Brazil and Argentina (1990-2020)

作为所谓的叙事转向的结果，最初的语言学叙事概念进入了政治学的聚光灯下，开始欣赏它的广泛分析潜力。计划项目的目的是通过研究特定区域和历史背景下的中产阶级叙事-巴西和阿根廷在重新民主化后的几十年中-实现这一潜力。本研究的重点是中产阶级作为一种潜在的社会结构在叙事过程中的自我建构，以及这些叙事中固有的不平等维度。本研究的出发点是，社会结构是话语自我建构实践中出现的偶然建构。这尤其适用于社会阶级，因为社会阶级首先不是由结构条件构成的，而是由想象和话语构成的。然而，这些结构带来了（物质的）社会现实，从而促成了两个相关国家普遍存在的社会不平等。在概念上，该研究采用了所谓的叙事政策框架（NPF），它为社会现实的叙事维度提供了一种系统的比较方法。它的主要目标是确定那些叙事元素，在其整体上指的是一个想象的社会类别的中产阶级。这就引出了进一步的问题，即定义这一类别的属性和关系。除此之外，中产阶级的这种自我概念对其在民主进程中的作用和地位具有影响。因此，主要的研究兴趣是评估随着时间的推移和不同的环境，巴西和阿根廷的综合中产阶级神话（或共同的元叙事）的存在。该研究依赖于一组关于叙事模式的结构和发展的定向问题，以及一系列典型的中产阶级话语中的关键主题，以确定1990年至2020年期间的演变和特征叙事元素，如故事情节和情节。在此基础上，将讨论中产阶级的叙述与经济、社会和性别不平等的构成和再现的相关性。作为实证材料，分析依赖于一个具有代表性的样本，消费者杂志，可以被视为中产阶级话语的主要媒介，由于其排他性和他们的观众。因此，总体目标是绘制这两种情况下中产阶级叙事的地图。研究结果将在一本英文专著中发表。另一项具体成果将是出版一本编辑成册，其中载有关于当前辩论和最近事态发展的资料。

As a result of the so-called narrative turn, the originally philological concept of narrative entered the spotlight of political science, which came to appreciate its wide analytical potential. The aim of the planned project is to bring this potential to fruition through a study of middle-class narratives in a specific regional and historical context – Brazil and Argentina during the decades since re-democratization. The focus is on the narratives of the middle-class as a latent social structure constituting itself in the process of narration and on the dimensions of inequality inherent in these narrations.The project starts from the premise that social structures are contingent constructions emerging from practices of discursive self-constitution. This applies in particular to social classes, which are not, in the fist place, constituted by structural conditions, but rather by imagination and discourse. These constructions, however, bring about (material) social reality and, thereby, contribute to shaping the social inequalities prevailing in both countries of interest. In conceptual terms, the study recurs to the so-called Narrative Policy Framework (NPF), which provides a systematic, comparative approach to the narrative dimension of social reality. Its main objective is to identify those narrative elements that in their totality refer to a middle-class as an imagined social category. This leads to further questions about the attributions and relations by which this category is defined. Beyond that, the kind of self-conception of the middle-class holds implications for its role and position within the democratic process. Thus, the principal research interest pertains to assessing the existence of an integrated middle-class myth (or a common meta-narration) in Brazil and Argentina over time and across different milieus. The study relies on a set of orientating questions about the structure and development of narrative patterns as well as on a series of key themes typically found in middle-class discourse to identify the evolution and characteristic narrative elements such as storylines and plots in the period between 1990 and 2020. On that ground, the relevance of middle-class narratives for the constitution and reproduction of economic, social and gender-specific inequalities will be discussed. As empirical material, the analysis relies on a representative sample of consumer magazines, which can be regarded as a main medium of middle-class discourse due to their exclusiveness and their audience. The overarching aim, therefore, is a cartography of middle-class narratives in both cases. The results of the study will be published in an English language monograph. Another concrete outcome will be the publication of an edited volume with contributions on current debates and recent developments.