Luxury culture and low wages in Chile: an invitation to crime.

Abstract

With learned hopelessness, for many, especially the younger generations, the contradiction between expectation and reality becomes untenable. With a new imaginary consolidated in the working classes and the promises of social mobility through effort and dedication to work collapsed, for several, there is no option but to seek other avenues to obtain what the world of images continuously showcases.

Full text

Global Labour Column
https://globallabourcolumn.org | Number 460, April 2024
Chile faces a complex scenario. An increase in socially significant
crimes, uncommon in previous decades, has led to a growing
perception of insecurity and has elevated citizen security in
media coverage and the political agenda.
The approach to this issue has changed, initially focusing on
concerns about massive illegal migration and more recently on
the rise in drug trafficking. These may correlate with the
increase in a new type of criminality, but an integral explanation
of the phenomenon is still lacking. It is crucial to add elements
to the diagnosis to broaden and diversify the repertoire in
approaching a phenomenon rooted in a specific cultural
framework. I discuss narcoculture, an identifiable aspect
requiring deeper consideration in the analysis of the situation.
While narcoculture has been studied in countries such as
Mexico and Colombia, it is only recently being mentioned in
Chilean mainstream media’s analyses. However, the current
focus is superficial, partly because narcoculture tends to be
analysed as a marginal phenomenon perceived as external to
society, eroding it from the outside. This overlooks the reality
that narcoculture can be considered a phenomenon central and
intrinsic to consumer society. For decades, it has proposed the
act of consumption as a means of integration into capitalist
modernization and, ultimately, society.
Commodity fetishism
To address the new type of criminality, it is imperative to pay
attention to the consumer society prevailing in Chile. This has
unfortunately not been a focus for experts in recent years.
Research on ‘societal discontent’ has tended to focus on
‘negative’ aspects such as inequality, neglecting analysis of
forms of satisfaction and social integration, as Tomas Moulian
(1998) addressed in Consumption Consumes Me. It seems
essential to revisit this perspective.
It is not an exaggeration to state that in Chile – a country that
has been a neoliberal experiment with particularly advanced
capitalist conditions compared to other Latin American
countries – the community ties that traditionally sustained
social cohesion have rapidly deteriorated. These ties have been
reworked under the mercantile logic that Karl Marx described in
Volume I of Capital under the category of commodity fetishism.
This phenomenon reflects a profound transformation in how
Chilean society constructs and experiences its social relations,
directly connected with the dynamics of emerging criminality.
Commodity fetishism is a complex category, far from univocal,
but in this context, we interpret it as the tangible product of
labour acquiring the form of commodities which present to
people with a suprasensible (mystified) character. In this
inherent logic of capitalist production, the social relations of
production behind the objects become invisible, and
interpersonal relationships transform into the impersonal form
of commodity relations. This phenomenon contributes to the
reconfiguration of social and community life in Chile, marking a
significant influence on the emerging relational dynamics.
We are facing a phenomenon that, by depersonalizing and even
dehumanizing interpersonal relationships, places commodities,
imbued with a dazzling aura, at the epicentre of social life. This
is particularly evident in the case of what Guy Debord (2005)
called ‘commodities vedettes [stars]’ – iPhones, luxury vehicles,
jewellery, designer clothing, yachts, Caribbean vacations, and
everything that can be labelled as luxury. It's worth noting that
this market has grown noticeably in Chile over the past decade.
For example, in September 2019 in Chile, the press celebrated
the growth of the luxury market in the Andean country,
highlighting that this segment was responsible for a flow of
US$760 million during 2018 – a growth of 9% compared to the
previous year. This was thanks to the expansion of the
automotive sector by 15.6%, luxury tourism by 12%, and the sale
of exclusive wines by 10% (Reyes 2019).
Paradoxically, in October 2019, a social uprising characterised
by harsh criticism of existing social inequalities in the southern
country erupted. Almost immediately thereafter, the Covid-19
pandemic struck. However, neither the social uprising nor the
health crisis halted the trend to luxury in Chile.
In 2022, as the pandemic receded, the press highlighted that
while the luxury market was beginning to recover in Latin
America at a rate of 13.8%, in Chile, the sales recovery was
advancing at 15%. The explanation: ‘Chile has a higher per capita
GDP than several countries in Latin America, so the recovery in
the luxury sector is coming along quite well’ (La Tercera 2022).
Indeed, luxury sells well in Chile because there is more income
circulating in this country than in others in the region, but GDP
tells us nothing about the distribution of per capita incomes.
According to the OECD (2021: 1), 'Chile has the second highest
level of income inequality in the OECD, as measured by the Gini
index (...) There is also less equality of opportunity in Chile than
in many other OECD countries’.
Luxury culture and low wages in Chile: an invitation
to crime
Andrés Fonseca López

Global Labour Column
Contact the editor for questions or contributions:
Claire.Ceruti@global-labour-university.org
The GLC is supported by the Center for Global Workers’ Rights at Penn State University.
In this scenario of high inequality and few opportunities for
social mobility, but with the implicit promise that the acquisition
of commodities can bring us, even symbolically by mimicry,
closer to the upper classes, it is not surprising that aspirations
and social values, particularly of the most marginalized sectors
in income and welfare distribution, began to change (TVN 2017).
Corporate responsibility: imaginaries of luxury, low wages
It is evident that the corporate world, through its arms in the
cultural industry and information and communication
platforms, with its virtually omnipresent influence, massively
contributes to installing an imaginary world where acquiring and
surrounding oneself with a plethora of commodities becomes
the life goal for vast segments of society, especially those
seeking to escape marginalization and integrate into the earthly
paradise promised by capitalist modernity.
This seemingly natural phenomenon is anything but. Capitalism,
which introduced consumption as a basic form of social
integration, is relatively recent. In the past – before the triumph
of financial capitalism, in the era of productive capitalism – the
path to social integration was through work. But today, even if
we wanted to integrate into society through work, we would
encounter a sad and harsh reality. With an average wage barely
exceeding the minimum wage and almost no saving capacity,
the majority of the Chilean population struggles to access basic
rights, let alone the commodities that the model offers for
symbolic integration into society. Thus, massive indebtedness
ensues, followed swiftly by insolvency and expulsion from the
financial system – a path to marginalization.
With learned hopelessness, for many, especially the younger
generations, the contradiction between expectation and reality
becomes untenable. With a new imaginary consolidated in the
working classes and the promises of social mobility through
effort and dedication to work collapsed, for several, there is no
option but to seek other avenues to obtain what the world of
images continuously showcases.
Therefore, it would be particularly valuable to initiate a broad
social debate about the mismatch between the luxury imagery
that the corporate world promotes to construct consumers and,
on the other hand, the low remuneration with which this same
corporate world rewards its workers. Social integration through
consumption and numerous stimuli inviting the consumption of
high-end commodities for integration provides the perfect
substrate for narcoculture – which coincides in taste with the
bourgeoisie’s. But if we add low wages to this mix, we have the
perfect cocktail for the proliferation of activities that, outside of
honest work, allow for overcoming this contradictory mismatch.
Progressive theorists were mistaken: the intensification of these
contradictions over the past decades did not lead to the
fermentation of revolutionary discontent. Discontent ultimately
resulted in a massive exodus towards the lucrative activities of
the shadow economy. It could not be otherwise. The
depersonalization and even dehumanization that are corollaries
of the mercantile society would hardly foster the conditions for
the emergence of a society based on genuine work and a solid
social fabric.
Having said all this and understanding the threat that inequality
and crime pose to democratic stability, it is urgent that the
corporate world acknowledges its share of responsibility in
creating this terrifying cocktail. They must recognize that the
impact of their decisions on society is crucial and determinant.
Therefore, there is a need to press for their social commitment
at various levels, but above all, to addressing the dramatic gap
between the expectations – created by their mercantile culture
– and the precarious reality imposed by the economic model.
At the state level, we consider it fundamental that, before
promoting redistributive policies, initiatives are put forward
that engage businesses in promoting decent work and fair
remuneration based on their profit margins. In this way, citizens,
especially the youth, will be encouraged to build life projects
centred around work. With commitments of this kind, it is
possible to contribute as much or even more to the fight against
crime than the creation of a police state or reactive punitive
measures. This is because the work ethic is precisely opposed to
that of crime. It is the ethics of life production, not the fetishism
of commodities and death.
Andrés Fonseca López is a social worker in the human rights
program of the Human Rights Under-Secretariat of the
Government of Chile. He advocates for decent work, economic
democracy, human rights and sustainable development.
References
Debord, G. (2005) Society of the Spectacle. 2nd edition. Miami:
Pre-Textos.
La Tercera (2022) Luxury season: premium brands reach record
levels and sector is on the verge of surpassing pre-
pandemic sales. 19 June https://www.latercera.com/
pulso/noticia/temporada-de-lujo-marcas-premium-
alcanzan-niveles-record-y-sector-esta-a-un-paso-de-
superar-ventas-prepandemia/NW2RWIDV5FCYDOC
6MEBWOU6JVA/, accessed 17 March 2024.
Moulian, T. (1998) Consumption Consumes Me. Santiago: LOM.
OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development) (2021) Does inequality matter? How
people perceive economic disparities and social mobility.
https://www.oecd.org/wise/Does-inequality-matter-
country-note-Chile.pdf, accessed 17 March 2024.
Reyes, V. (2019) Luxury market grows in Chile: three types of
products are the most demanded. Radio Bío-Bío, 6
September. https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/
economia/actualidad-economica/2019/09/06/crece-el-
mercado-del-lujo-en-chile-tres-tipos-de-productos-son-
los-mas-demandados.shtml, accessed 17 March 2024.
TVN (2017) What are the eccentric luxuries of criminals? 21
August.https://www.tvn.cl/programas/muybuenosdias/
destacados/cuales-son-los-excentricos-lujos-de-los-
delincuentes-2482029, accessed 17 March 2024.