Joel Stillerman
My scholarly work focuses on trade unionists' and street vendors' protest, consumer culture, and cultural capital in Chile; I have also published two articles on transnational labor activism in North America.
1) My first project examines the trajectory of metalworkers' protests under democratic, authoritarian and post-authoritarian regimes. I have been particularly interested in the relationship between geography and the character of protest.
2) My second project focuses on the nature of social relationships in street markets, flea markets, and malls, and their implications for the future of urban public space and economic life.
3) I have worked on a research team focused on consumer behavior in Chilean shopping malls, which emphasizes shoppers' agency and creativity in mall settings.
4) My first book, The Sociology of Consumption: A Global Approach (2015, Polity) offers a unique interpretation of the field with its emphasis on cross-cultural variations in consumption, social inequalities, and consumer citizenship.
5) My second book, Identity Investments: Middle-class Responses to Precarious Privilege in Neoliberal Chile (Stanford University Press, 2023) examines cultural and political divisions across middle class groups in Santiago, Chile. It argues that middle class people use moral frameworks to shape their investments in the employment, housing, school choice, home decoration, and leisure fields. These frameworks have important implications for understanding political change in Chile and challenge common views of middle class people as solely self-interested and apolitical.
1) My first project examines the trajectory of metalworkers' protests under democratic, authoritarian and post-authoritarian regimes. I have been particularly interested in the relationship between geography and the character of protest.
2) My second project focuses on the nature of social relationships in street markets, flea markets, and malls, and their implications for the future of urban public space and economic life.
3) I have worked on a research team focused on consumer behavior in Chilean shopping malls, which emphasizes shoppers' agency and creativity in mall settings.
4) My first book, The Sociology of Consumption: A Global Approach (2015, Polity) offers a unique interpretation of the field with its emphasis on cross-cultural variations in consumption, social inequalities, and consumer citizenship.
5) My second book, Identity Investments: Middle-class Responses to Precarious Privilege in Neoliberal Chile (Stanford University Press, 2023) examines cultural and political divisions across middle class groups in Santiago, Chile. It argues that middle class people use moral frameworks to shape their investments in the employment, housing, school choice, home decoration, and leisure fields. These frameworks have important implications for understanding political change in Chile and challenge common views of middle class people as solely self-interested and apolitical.
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Books by Joel Stillerman
Using participant observation, interviews, and photographs, Joel Stillerman develops a unique typology of the middle class, made up of activists, moderate Catholics, pragmatists, and youngsters. This typology allows him to unearth the cultural, political, and religious roots of middle-class market practices in contrast with other studies focused on social mobility and exclusionary practices. The resultant contrast in backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of these four groups animates this book and extends an emerging body of scholarship focused on the connections between middle-class market choices and politics in the Global South, with important implications for Chile's recent explosive political changes.
Papers by Joel Stillerman
de Chile y Alemania Federal. Crisis que impactaron en contextos diferentes, tanto a nivel de posiciones en la economía capitalista, como en lo referente a los regímenes políticos. En ambos países se plantearon el desempleo y los cambios en los ámbitos del trabajo. En este contexto, en Chile, las turbulencias económicas mundiales, se ligaron a la reacción violenta de los militares a la “vía chilena al socialismo” que, en alianza con las grandes empresas y economistas neoliberales, permitieron el desarrollo de las políticas neoliberales.
Alemania Federal respondió al final del “milagro económico” de la posguerra con políticas gradualistas que preservaron el Estado del bienestar. La economía coordinada de Alemania Federal y la influencia de los sindicatos dentro de los dos grandes partidos políticos postergaron la aplicación de estas políticas hasta los 2000. La comparación demuestra la importancia de las configuraciones
políticas de cada país para explicar sus políticas económicas y sociales frente a cambios de la economía global. De esta forma, se evidencia que la política es el campo de construcción de las diversas alternativas frente a las dinámicas del capitalismo.
historical continuities of precarious work, and differences between precarious work in the Global North and South. This introduction explores the challenges of conceptualizing precarious work; the history of precarious labor; its variations in the Global North and South; possible differences across sectors of precarious work; and the intersections between precarious work and categories of gender, race, and
citizenship status. We conclude with a summary of the articles included in the issue.
Using participant observation, interviews, and photographs, Joel Stillerman develops a unique typology of the middle class, made up of activists, moderate Catholics, pragmatists, and youngsters. This typology allows him to unearth the cultural, political, and religious roots of middle-class market practices in contrast with other studies focused on social mobility and exclusionary practices. The resultant contrast in backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of these four groups animates this book and extends an emerging body of scholarship focused on the connections between middle-class market choices and politics in the Global South, with important implications for Chile's recent explosive political changes.
de Chile y Alemania Federal. Crisis que impactaron en contextos diferentes, tanto a nivel de posiciones en la economía capitalista, como en lo referente a los regímenes políticos. En ambos países se plantearon el desempleo y los cambios en los ámbitos del trabajo. En este contexto, en Chile, las turbulencias económicas mundiales, se ligaron a la reacción violenta de los militares a la “vía chilena al socialismo” que, en alianza con las grandes empresas y economistas neoliberales, permitieron el desarrollo de las políticas neoliberales.
Alemania Federal respondió al final del “milagro económico” de la posguerra con políticas gradualistas que preservaron el Estado del bienestar. La economía coordinada de Alemania Federal y la influencia de los sindicatos dentro de los dos grandes partidos políticos postergaron la aplicación de estas políticas hasta los 2000. La comparación demuestra la importancia de las configuraciones
políticas de cada país para explicar sus políticas económicas y sociales frente a cambios de la economía global. De esta forma, se evidencia que la política es el campo de construcción de las diversas alternativas frente a las dinámicas del capitalismo.
historical continuities of precarious work, and differences between precarious work in the Global North and South. This introduction explores the challenges of conceptualizing precarious work; the history of precarious labor; its variations in the Global North and South; possible differences across sectors of precarious work; and the intersections between precarious work and categories of gender, race, and
citizenship status. We conclude with a summary of the articles included in the issue.