A Matter of Confianza: Searching for Service Work in Nicaragua

• In Event: 4445 - Culture and Service Work: Relationships, Identities, Inequalities

Abstract

The Latin American concept of confianza, which translates to “confidence” or “trust,” has been identified as a crucial component of social relations in Latin America (Lomnitz 1977, Lomnitz and Melnick 1991). Confianza has been theorized previously as a ‘willingness to engage in exchange’ (Lomnitz 1977), but I propose that confianza is better understood as relational property of dyadic relationships. As such, confianza has two components: confianza-as-rational-trust and confianza-as-emotional-intimacy. As I demonstrate, both components of confianza play a key role in the meaning-making processes that surround the search for service work in Nicaragua. Drawing from in-depth interviews with 106 workers and job-seekers, I show how the dual meanings of confianza are invoked to justify and comprehend decision-making amidst the uncertainties of Nicaragua’s low-wage labor market.

Author

• Lindsey McKay Ibanez, Washburn University