Class and social reproduction: the social space in Córdoba at the first decade of the twenty first century

Abstract

In this paper we propose a construction of the social space of Gran Córdoba (Argentina) in the last decade, as a first moment (objectivist) of a research about social reproduction’s strategies of the different classes and class fractions that compose it.

This implies a theoretical choice about the way to conceive the social classes and the dynamics of their reproduction. It also means to propose a theoretical and methodological articulation for its empirical construction. It also entails a series of technical decisions to adapt this articulation with the use of the data sources from the national statistical system.

Based on the notion of social space (Bourdieu), we propose a relational construction of classes and fractions from the set of family resources available for their social reproduction, mainly economical y cultural. For this construction we apply jointly factorial methods and classificatory methods, based on the information captured by the “Encuesta Permanente de Hogares” in the third quarters of 2003 and 2011. The construction of social space, which identifies four main classes with their respective fractions and shows a homologous structure in both periods, will allow us to make explicit the theoretical debate about the classes and their dynamics, to show the heuristic value of the decisions previously made, and it is the conditions of possibility for implementing the qualitative stage of the research.