Modificando el “Sueño Americano”: una etnografía de prevenciones de ejecuciones hipotecarias durante la Gran Recesión

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Publicado 27-03-2023
Anna Jefferson Charlotte Perez

Resumen

La crisis de la vivienda en los Estados Unidos y la Gran Recesión de 2007-2009 propició un ajuste de cuentas personales, políticas, y culturales con facetas centrales de la identidad estadounidense, a saber, lo que significa ser de clase media. Históricamente, la propiedad de la vivienda es un símbolo clave de haber alcanzado el «Sueño Americano». Como fenómeno cultural, la ejecución hipotecaria es, por lo tanto, un símbolo cargado tanto de movilidad individual hacia abajo como de amenazas al mito nacional del Sueño Americano. Basándose en un trabajo de campo etnográfico realizado en el estado de Michigan entre 2009 y 2011, este artículo argumenta que la crisis de la vivienda provocó un estado de clase liminal de quienes se encontraban «enfrentando la ejecución hipotecaria». Desde ese punto de vista, los propietarios de viviendas enfrentando ejecuciones hipotecarias y los consejeros de vivienda que los ayudaron reexaminaron críticamente la clase media. El trabajo de campo revela que se basaron en demandas materiales, morales y políticas para obtener modificaciones hipotecarias para reafirmar su condición de clase media. Cuando estos esfuerzos fracasaron, recurrieron a críticas sistémicas en lugar de la culpa individualizada que el Sueño Americano predeciría.

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Keywords

clase media, Estados Unidos, ejecución hipotecaria, etnografía

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Sección
Artículos de investigación. Monográficos