Subjectification processes of the new cultural elites: Routes of autonomy and emotional in/dependency of middle-class women

Abstract

In this article we analyze two life accounts of middle-class women born in the late sixties in Spain. We begin by outlining their family background with a view to providing an overall sociodemographic and then illustrate the influence of education and other socialization practices in the emotional and political routes of these two informants to whom we shall refer to as Alba and Elsa. This first narrative moment, which runs closer to the statements and accounts of our protagonists, is followed by the interpretation of their life stories in a broader sociological context. We argue that their emotional and life trajectories partly respond to different starting family positionings. We also suggest that some of their common features are forged under a social scenario which underwent large social changes and where different gender codes, worldviews and value systems coexisted.