Laying the bases for neo-liberalism in the late 1980s: An analysis of press representations in Argentina and Italy

Abstract

In the 1990s, Argentina and Italy – two countries with common cultural, social and political traditions – experienced the privatization of state-owned companies as well as debates over the solvency of public pension systems and laws to flexibilize the labour market: the beginnings of a ruthless model that would soon expand around the world. My interest in this study, however, lies in the years immediately before the rise of neo-liberalism, specifically from 1988 to 1989, when the model was presented as the most auspicious path to take. This article explores how information constructed by two leading newspapers, La Nación (Argentina) and Il Corriere della Sera (Italy), paved the way for neo-liberalism. The aim is to analyse which stereotypes, visions and sources were favoured through a qualitative analysis focused on the social meanings and representations put into circulation by the mass media within a specific historical context.