Marcos Emilio Pérez

Uses interviews and participant observation to study how routines help sustain civic engagement. Focuses on Argentina’s piquetero movement and explores the political consequences, at the grassroots level, of working-class decline. Analyses how some people affected by job loss react to the undermining of their traditional ways of life not by embracing authoritarian politics, but instead by engaging in progressive mobilization.

Draws on both broad sociological literature and ethnographic research on the unemployed worker's movement in Argentina. Argues that an essential attraction of participating in this movement is the opportunity to engage in the daily practices associated with a respectable proletarian ethos. Suggests that research on the relation between practices and activism can significantly complement the current literature and deepen our knowledge of social movement participation.