“Professionals, Merchants, and Industrialists Unite!”: Middle-Class Masculinities, Subjectivities, and Nationhood in Chile, 1932–1952

Abstract

This article focuses on the formation of the masculine ethos of the middle classes in Chile as a result of their experience in the public sphere and covers the period between 1932 and 1952. The study is based on a discourse analysis of Acción Pública, a middle-class weekly; ANEF magazine, issued by the Asociación Nacional de Empleados Fiscales (Chile’s National Association of Public Servants, ANEF); En Viaje, the magazine published by Chile’s state-owned railway; and Ley 6020 Sueldo Vital (Living Wage Act), legislation benefitting white-collar workers. The article provides an examination of the impact of everyday nationalism on the formation of modern middle-class men identities and explores the extent to which the intersection between expectations of class, labor, and gender led to profound contradictions that may be considered subjectivities of both class and masculinity.