Browsing by Author "Fergnani, Mario"

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    I Justify Myself, Therefore I am. Regimes Of Justification In Chilean Elite Universities
    (Policy Press, 2024) Quaresma, Maria Luisa; Villalobos, Cristobal; Fergnani, Mario; Diaz, Barbara
    Few studies focus on understanding the role of universities in the elites' legitimation processes. This article examines how elite universities-in the context of Chilean tertiary education massification-actively create privileged statuses. Focusing on eight case studies, we examine how these universities justify their roles and existence, generating distinctions that promote highly exclusive spaces, replicating elite privilege. Through 48 semi-structured interviews, this article focuses on understanding the justification arguments employed by faculty and deans from these elite institutions. Following Boltanski's and Thevenot's theoretical model, the results illustrate three different justification regimes: i) arguing for their elite status within the university system; ii) justifying the role they fulfil within Chilean society; and iii) defending their existence in the social structure. These regimes combine arguments relating to social justice, efficiency and market system performance in an eclectic and pragmatic way.
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    The construction of political capital in an elite university. Networks, learnings and socialization strategies in students of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
    (2022) Fergnani, Mario; Villalobos, Cristobal; Luisa Quaresma, Maria
    The paper analyzes the development strategies of the political capital of the students of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (PUC), thinking about the construction of networks, the political learning processes and the socialization strategies of students who are part of the elite student's organization in PUC. Through a qualitative approach -which mixes network analysis and a biographical approach- we analyze the trajectories of ten student leaders in this elite university space. The results show that the processes of political socialization are gradual and staggered, and that the networks of political socialization rule the resources available to compete, although these are differentiated by the political orientation (left-right) of the interviewees. In addition, it is shown that the process of political socialization implies the incorporation of ideological and practical dispositions, related to operational and managerial aspects of political activity and that the PUC is structured as a laboratory of national politics.
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    The cultural battle for the Chilean model: intellectual elites in times of politicisation (2010–17)
    (2023) Undurraga, Tomás; Gárate Chateau, Manuel; Joignant, Alfredo; Fergnani, Mario; Márquez, Felipe
    The Chilean economic model has been widely studied both as a pioneering experiment in neoliberal policies and in regard to the growing social mobilisation against inequalities it has provoked. Insufficient attention has been paid, however, to the role of intellectuals in justifying and criticising the model. This article examines cultural battles over the economic model among the country's main columnists between 2010 and 2017, analysing debates as to the model's virtues and vices, achievements and failures. It shows how debate surrounding the model is highly reactive to current political events, yet occurs in somewhat of an elite bubble, centred on conceptual discussions and daily political events that tend to be dissociated from popular concerns.