Catholic NGOs have been—and still are—one of the main institutional actors involved in poverty management in Argentina. Drawing on an ethnographic study of Opus Dei, a Catholic NGO, I show how different types of inequalities are entrenched in the services they offer. In this national context, discussions and debates around racial diversity and racism are often met with indifference or denied (Frigerio, Sociology of Religion; Año, 63, 291–315, 2002). This denial of racial categories and racial diversity as a social concept may be related to a homogenization origin myth that conceives the Argentine population as composed of predominantly white and Catholic European descendants. Nonetheless, racist and racial metaphors are often used to refer to the poor in Argentina (Frigerio, Ciencias Sociales y Religión/Ciências Sociais e Religião 7(7), 223–237, 2005; Luis D’Elia y los negros: Identificaciones raciales y de clase en sectores populares CLAROSCURO, 2009) who have been historically pejoratively labeled as “cabecitas negras” (in English, black little heads). NGOs like Opus Dei mostly serve this group, who are the recipients of their charitable work. During and after the 1990s many NGOs that dealt with poverty emerged. These NGOs were mainly led by women, suggesting a feminization of social action in Argentina. This prevalence of Catholicism in the management of poverty and its feminization have various implications. First, they shape their conceptions of poverty and their approach to addressing its challenges. Second, by trying to educate the volunteers and charitable women involved in their services they promote traditional frameworks of family and gender roles, as well as models for social citizenship. The NGO’s women service workers try to educate the poor holistically, providing moral and socioeconomic frameworks for women’s gender roles and the family. This chapter will expose how all these dynamics operate in tandem by describing the services and activities Opus Dei develops in Argentina.

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Feminization of Social Action. Opus Dei and Poverty in Argentina

  • María Bargo

摘要

Catholic NGOs have been—and still are—one of the main institutional actors involved in poverty management in Argentina. Drawing on an ethnographic study of Opus Dei, a Catholic NGO, I show how different types of inequalities are entrenched in the services they offer. In this national context, discussions and debates around racial diversity and racism are often met with indifference or denied (Frigerio, Sociology of Religion; Año, 63, 291–315, 2002). This denial of racial categories and racial diversity as a social concept may be related to a homogenization origin myth that conceives the Argentine population as composed of predominantly white and Catholic European descendants. Nonetheless, racist and racial metaphors are often used to refer to the poor in Argentina (Frigerio, Ciencias Sociales y Religión/Ciências Sociais e Religião 7(7), 223–237, 2005; Luis D’Elia y los negros: Identificaciones raciales y de clase en sectores populares CLAROSCURO, 2009) who have been historically pejoratively labeled as “cabecitas negras” (in English, black little heads). NGOs like Opus Dei mostly serve this group, who are the recipients of their charitable work. During and after the 1990s many NGOs that dealt with poverty emerged. These NGOs were mainly led by women, suggesting a feminization of social action in Argentina. This prevalence of Catholicism in the management of poverty and its feminization have various implications. First, they shape their conceptions of poverty and their approach to addressing its challenges. Second, by trying to educate the volunteers and charitable women involved in their services they promote traditional frameworks of family and gender roles, as well as models for social citizenship. The NGO’s women service workers try to educate the poor holistically, providing moral and socioeconomic frameworks for women’s gender roles and the family. This chapter will expose how all these dynamics operate in tandem by describing the services and activities Opus Dei develops in Argentina.