This chapter explores the trajectories of those activists who fail to develop attachment to their organizations. It argues that understanding disengagement from activism requires us to distinguish not simply between those who continue to participate and those who leave, but also separate individuals whose reasons for leaving are external (i.e., they face insurmountable obstacles to continued involvement), from people whose motives are internal (i.e., they do not find participation appealing enough). With that purpose, it introduces the distinction between potential dropouts (those who continue participating because they lack a better alternative), voluntary dropouts (those who choose to leave the movement for a more effective source of income), and reluctant dropouts (those who disengage forced by special circumstances). The chapter concludes by arguing that potential and voluntary dropouts have in common the fact that participation does not become an end in itself, while reluctant dropouts share with long-term participants “resistance to quitting”, a strong (but not infallible) inclination to overcome obstacles to participation.

This chapter presents the book’s framework and overall argument. It also describes the book's implications for the field of social movement studies and for the understanding of the consequences of neoliberal globalization. In addition, it includes a brief description of the case of study, an outline of the project’s methodology, and an overview of the chapters ahead.

This chapter focuses on the first way in which piquetero activists engage in working-class routines: reconstruction. It shows how older participants use their practices in the movement to reconstruct routines that once constituted an essential component of their personal identity, but that social changes have rendered impossible. In addition, the chapter elaborates on how this process varies for men and women: while the former engage in activities associated with blue-collar occupations, the latter reenact the type of household duties seen as the counterpart of factory work. Even though paid employment has always been common among working-class Argentinean women, many respondents still idealize the breadwinner/housewife family structure, and link some of the most pressing problems in their communities (crime, drugs, idleness) to the undermining of traditional gender roles.

The conclusion summarizes the book’s findings and discusses its implications. It begins by outlining the overarching lesson from the book (the importance of everyday experiences and concrete motivations for political participation). It then develops this general point into four specific principles applicable to research on other instances of social mobilization. First, habits may be as important for long-term participation as the alignment between personal beliefs and organizational ideologies. Second, activists’ experiences inside and outside of a social movement should be assigned the same explanatory value. Third, social movement scholars must expand their toolkits by borrowing concepts from outside their specific field. Finally, both divergence and conformity with tradition can promote activism. The chapter closes by showing how studying cases like the piqueteros can generate insight about current challenges to democracy in Latin America and the World. Analyzing the complexity of grassroots experiences in the Global South has the potential to challenge established ideas about civic engagement and political participation.

This chapter explores the history of the unemployed workers' movement, analyzing the trajectory of piquetero organizations as part of a broader wave of contention in Latin America. The chapter shows how these organizations developed as networks of neighborhood groups coordinated by a central leadership, with extensive connections to preexisting instances of community life. Organizers were able to draw on established cultural and political traditions at the local level to develop an effective repertoire of contention, which in turn helped their groups become efficient problem-solvers. The chapter then explores how over the last two decades these groups succeeded in accumulating resources and developing cores of committed members, leading to an enduring presence in Argentina’s popular politics. The chapter ends by arguing that individual-level dynamics such as the engagement in practices associated with working-class life played a crucial role in the enduring influence of piquetero networks, by helping them recruit and, most importantly, retain participants.

This chapter describes the second way in which participants in the piquetero movement partake in working-class routines: development. For many activists who came of age since the 1990s, participation in a piquetero organization provides the chance to develop a lifestyle that they were raised to see as honorable, but that socioeconomic transformations have made increasingly unfeasible. In a context with limited opportunities for personal growth, the movement offers a working class ethos, plus the resources and training to exercise it. The chapter also shows how the expectations inculcated to young members reflect the ideal of a proletarian family with a gendered division of labor. Boys tend to enroll in infrastructure projects, while girls are far more likely to choose programs associated with household chores. In addition, even though all young members are compelled to have discipline at work and self-restraint at home, the actual meaning of these ideals is gender-specific. For men, being a responsible worker is associated with manual labor and public life, while for women expectations are framed in terms of modesty, domesticity, and motherhood.

This chapter analyzes the third mechanism for participation in working-class routines: protection. The expansion of unemployment undermined the material conditions for a number of established routines in working-class neighborhoods: Community spaces decayed, drug use became rampant, and interpersonal violence skyrocketed. Hence, wholesome habits associated with communal life (such as spending time in common spaces and sharing resources with neighbors) are perceived to be endangered. In this context of individual and collective deprivation, organizations become oases of socialization where interpersonal trust and altruism is still possible. The chapter concludes by showing how, just like reconstruction and development, protection of routines is a gendered process. It outlines this effect by describing the role of two typical shared tasks within piquetero groups: the male-dominated “security teams” in charge of self-defense; and the “milk cups”, soup kitchens for minors that are almost entirely run by women.