Improvising a market, making a model

Social housing policy in Chile

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2159662
AutoresIgnacio Farías (0000-0002-6611-2975)
Año2014
Volumen43
Número3
Páginas346-369
Fecha de publicación2014-07-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEconomy and Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0308-5147 • E-ISSN: 1469-5766
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03085147.2014.881596
OpenAlexW1973923706
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas17
Referencias citadas34

This paper explores processes of market creation in Chile, firstly, in the 1980s as a market for social housing was initially introduced and, 30 years later, as existing market arrangements were adapted to organize housing reconstruction after the 2010 earthquake. Looking in detail at these two cases, this paper describes a type of relationship between economics and economic processes which deviates significantly from the currently widely discussed performativity of economics. Instead, a process of economic improvisation is identified that involves the composition of market arrangements without a pre-existing economic theory or model of the economic processes at stake. Improvisation, as this paper shows, is a key under-theorized element of neoliberal transformation processes in Chile and elsewhere, and crucial to understanding neoliberal action in critical moments. The paper also proposes distinguishing different modes of economic improvisation and how these become economic models.Keywords: marketizationimprovisationperformativitygovernmentalityhousingdisastersView correction statement:Corrigendum FundingThis research has been funded by WZB Berlin Social Science Center.Additional informationFundingFunding: This research has been funded by WZB Berlin Social Science Center.Notes on contributorsIgnacio FaríasIgnacio Farías is a senior research fellow at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and research associate of ICSO, Universidad Diego Portales, Chile. He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University (2013), Goldsmiths College, University of London (2010) and New York University (2007). His main research interests are in the fields of urban studies, science and technology studies and cultural sociology. He has done extensive research on urban disasters and reconstruction processes, urban consumption and tourism, as well as the creative sectors of urban economies. He is co-editor of Urban assemblages: How actor-network theory changes urban studies (Routledge, 2008) and author of papers in journals, including Sociological Review, European Journal of Social Theory, Space and Culture, CITY and Mobilities

Economic sociology · Improvisation · Performativity · Social science · Sociology · Visual arts · Economic Theory and Policy · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Political Economy and Marxism · Gender Studies