Symbolic distinctions and social realities. High society and upstarts in Buenos Aires at the turn of the 19th to 20th century
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53872/2422.7544.n9.9939Keywords:
advenedizo, elite, distinction, modernization, belle époqueAbstract
This paper analyses the margins left to the tradictional elite of Buenos Aires for stablishing social differences in the changing scenario of 1900. Thus, this article discusses a very common word in that social circle to refer to those that experimented the adventure of social ascent: the “advenedizo” (newcomer; parvenu). Our argument is that this term is no doubt a peyorative way of naming those that have started to have power, riches or prestige in Buenos Aires of the belle époque and refers to their lack of significant symbolic capital –which was scarce in that alluvial society (that is the lack of ancient origin). At the same time it shows traditional families withdrawal caused by the modernization process that was taking place.
In this sense, this paper argues that symbolic way of building differences have and impact on social relations, and at the same time, they can be considered a manifestation of the constraint margins left by social facts to stablish such distinctions.
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