Class Mobility: The Case of Argentina and how it should shape policy

Social Classes, as we currently know them, appear with the Industrial Revolution and the capitalist economic model. With the economic, technological and social changes that have happened after that point have meant that social classes are no longer fixed, with the help of government intervention (in education, health, etc.) and thanks to hard work and the betterment of working conditions by the business owners, families could “climb up the social ladder”, an expression used to refer to social mobility, meaning they went from a lower position to a higher position, with better services, bigger wages and more commodities available to them. 

The phenomenon of social mobility, in particular upward social mobility, could be considered as one of the core characteristics of Argentina's economy and society up until the second half of the 20th century. Starting in the 1880s with Argentina's record high immigration and agro-export model, with high level of job opportunities and with public policies such as free education and healthcare, over time families achieved better quality of life, generating a very strong middle class. But since the 1960s and 1970s, the country has found itself in a string of one economic crisis after another, especially since the start of the 20th century.   

This context has over time, weakened upward social mobility and reduced the Argentinian middle class drastically. In the 1990s, approximately 75% of Argentinians were part of the middle class, while the number currently is around 43%, marking a 32 point decrease in the percentage of people who encompass the middle class. This can be seen in how Argentinian’s consume, and how over the years, families have been forced to change their way of life to reduce less essential costs, lowering families’ welfare level and their living standards. These changes have also brought modifications in people’s habits and choices, with a drastic reduction of consumption, thus negatively affecting the economy even more. 

This means that if we want to develop an economy, in this case Argentina’s, we shouldn’t just look  at numbers like GDP and measuring production, we must also take care of people bettering their lives and make sure that families get on the right track , acquiring more wealth and achieving better living conditions, all of which will boost the economy and make it grow. The government must research and really dive into people’s living conditions and implement policies that will increase the standards of living of the population, and allow low and middle-income households to enter a trend of social ascent once more. 

Thus, paving the way not just for a growth in numbers, but one in well -being and the actual development of a country ‘s population. So, for Argentina to achieve real economic growth, it must look into policies that achieve an economic ascent of the citizenry and a higher level of standards of living, so that families leave the lower class and rise up into the middle class, like they previously used to do in Argentina.