The Cultural Decline of the Chilean Model: The Aftermath of the 2019 Social Uprising

Abstract

This article examines the debates surrounding Chile's economic model after the 2019 social uprising. It does so by studying how the leading columnists in the Chilean print media discussed the country's economic model between 2019 and 2021. The social uprising shook the political stability, social order, and economic certainty that had characterized the Chilean model for thirty years. Further, the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic triggered a triple crisis—socioeconomic, political, and medical—that raised serious questions as to the market model's ability to guarantee social security. The analysis of the public debate shows how two landmarks of the Chilean model, namely, its legitimacy as a development path and the exclusive right of economists to discuss the economy, were subjected to questioning. The columnists' debate reflects a model in crisis that contrasts drastically with the optimistic narrative of Chile as a “model” country in Latin America. The 2019 social uprising also marked a critical shift in both the ways in which the economy is discussed and who is authorized to legitimately debate economic issues in the public sphere, thus constituting a break from the technocratic consensus regarding market-led policies. If the aftermath of the social uprising triggered the cultural decline of the Chilean model as a dispositive to justify market-oriented policies, the way in which the economy is publicly discussed also changed radically.