On the legitimization of socioeconomic inequalities in Chile Essay on social imaginaries

Abstract

This essay reflects on the legitimization of high levels of socioeconomic inequalities within Chilean society. For us, this society has developed around a social imaginary founded on the central idea of hierarchy. This hierarchical representation of the social order has as a primary consequence the existence of a fundamental moral inequality between individuals, based on an inequality of consideration that materializes across a broad range of social indicators, distinctions, and discriminations. This moral inequality is conveyed by customs and social practices, which reproduce a social order inherited from Chile’s specific history. This intrinsically legitimizes high levels of socioeconomic inequalities. However, since the 1950s, this inegalitarian mentality has slowly been eroded by the rise of the opposite imaginary, that of equality. This new egalitarian imaginary has caused old social representations to crumble and has created growing social tensions and frictions.