Where Is the State? Inquiries into the Future of Factory Work in Contemporary Argentina

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between factory work and statehood through a case study of Viamo, an Argentine footwear manufacturing company. Drawing on interviews with owners and workers, it reconstructs the history of the firm and explores different manifestations of the state within the factory experience, including class and gender relations, economic policies, organizational knowledge, planning practices, affective dynamics, and vocational training. The analysis shows that footwear production articulates industrial and artisanal, familial and entrepreneurial dimensions whose reproduction depends on complex state-mediated processes. It also highlights the tensions shaping the future of factory work in contemporary Argentina, marked by the decline of skilled trades, economic uncertainty, and the challenges of productive rationalization. Finally, the company’s collapse during the course of the research underscores the fragility of this industrial world and the central role of state action in sustaining the conditions of possibility for small and medium-sized enterprises.