Dollars, pesos, and planes. Reconstruction of class borders in the second government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2011–2015)

Abstract

Based on fieldwork carried out between 2012 and 2015 with groups of people who protested against the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and who self-identified as belonging to the middle class, this article analyzes some of the ways in which the mobilization of money enabled the differentiation between social groups. The paper seeks to dialogue with and contribute to studies of money by focusing on how money is socially constructed in ways that account for the moral character and multiple forms as well as meanings of monies. Rather than stressing the coexistence of different monies, the article examines how money is a contested and contingent category. In order to do so, I focus on the protests that arose after the establishment of restrictions on the purchase of dollars (known as “cepo”, or the currency clamp). I focus on how middle sectors use money as a way of generating reserves (economic but also socio-political) and capital.