The political uses of consumption during the presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

Abstract

In Argentina, the place given to consumption has been approached in various ways, according to the political, economic and social orientation of each government. During Juan Domingo Perón government (1946-1955) there was a democratization of consumption. Then, with the advent of the neoliberal model, consumption is conceived as a product of the merit of each individual in particular. It is with the arrival of the government of Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) that consumption begins to be resignified, associated with economic growth. This approach is intensified during the two presidential periods of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007-2015), through political uses that were configured discursively, from various speeches by the president. In this work, the speeches were analyzed regarding the launch of five public policies: Universal Child Allowance (2009), ARGENTA Program (2012), Argentine Bicentennial Credit Program for Single Family Housing (2012), Procreauto Program (2014) and Plan Now 12 (2014). To do this, we start from the theory discourse proposed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. As a result, thanks to the identification of four political uses of consumption, it is argued that there was a resignification of it during the government of Cristina Fernández.