IDENTITY, POLITICAL CULTURE AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS IN JUJUY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Abstract

The context in Jujuy during the first decade of the 21st century shows the co-existence of social organizations in a heterogeneous and complex space which is in constant movement. The purpose of this research is to understand the relationship between the identity of the active members of the social organizations into this context and the political culture. When dealing with this topic, social psychology contributed to visualize the dialectic relationship between the subjectivities and the processes and models taking place on collective grounds. Some theoretical tools from the field of political culture and social movements proved to be useful for the present work.
A qualitative research design was used. The techniques for finding out information were: participant observation, interviews, feed-back periods. The constant comparative method was used for the data analysis.
Two categories were developed as regards identity: self-understanding, collective experience, and the interplay history-project, all of them related to a third category, which is necessary to understand the social link supporting the identity configuration: the world of social organizations. After this, it is reached to central statements, that one of which affirms identity and organization are strongly marked by diverging projects, not only supported by members, but also coming from a political culture and a social history which transcends the temporal and spatial boundaries of the organization. Two positions are settled; one refers to a purely vindictive project that can complement or contradict a linked position to a project of socio- political transformation.