Anthropology of Work Review Volume XXVIII, Number 1 8 Theorizing Unemployment: Toward an Argentine Anthropology of Work Mariano D. Perelman, Universidad de Buenos Aires [translated by Ann Kingsolver and Mariano Perelman] Abstract The recent crisis related to neoliberal economic poli- cies in Argentina brought more of a focus in Argentine an- thropology to issues related to work and unemployment. The anthropology of work, before the crisis, was a neglected area of the discipline. I am proposing that we pay theoretical attention, in and beyond Argentine anthropology, not only to labor relations and conditions, but also to the subjectiv- ities and collective actions within the growing unemployed and underemployed population in Argentina. Unemployed individuals still conceptualize of themselves as workers; it is how they have constructed their identities. A theoretical focus on the unemployed in the anthropology of work will contribute to our understandings of heterogeneous capital- ist relations and subjectivities. Keywords: anthropology of work, Argentina, capi- talism, unemployment Introduction The anthropology of work is a withered branch of Argentine anthropology. Although it has been a recurrent theme of investigation since the founding of the discipline in Argentina, anthropology of work has not developed its own homogeneous set of core concepts and methods that would make it recognizable as a subfield. In the past several years, however, because of the changes that have occurred in Argentina, there seems to have been a resurgence of the anthropology of work. Transformations related to work have been the strongest effects of the crisis. Precarious, in- formal, and temporary work, as well as unemployment, 1 have become constants in a society accustomed to high em- ployment rates in the formal sector, with social welfare guarantees to workers. At the same time, as Merklen (2005) has argued, the degradation of labor relations was accompanied by impor- tant changes in political support for workers. The unions that had represented workers since the 1940s fell apart because of declining employment rates. 2 Leftist political parties were not able to respond satisfactorily to the crisis, falling into divisions and crisis themselves. Peronism (having been con- solidated as the workers’ party), in its Menemist form (1989 to 1999), was the staunchest supporter of the international credit institutions (e.g., the Interamerican Bank, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund). Peronists were applying neoliberal policies of which the party had previ- ously been suspicious. The policies’ implementation caused a deep salary regression and the dismantling of the economy. This application of policies reducing the effectiveness of the