Patients of the State: The Politics of Waiting in Argentina

Based on years of ethnographic research in Buenos Aires, Patients of the State examines the experience of poor citizens as they navigate bureaucratic processes and extended wait times for basic services. Through interviews and observations at welfare offices, courthouses, and other state institutions, Auyero documents how waiting becomes a tool of political domination. The book centers on the municipality of Flammable, where residents must routinely spend hours or days waiting for documents, benefits, housing assistance and medical care. Auyero analyzes how these prolonged waiting periods shape people's relationship with the state and their understanding of citizenship. Through detailed case studies and theoretical analysis, the book explores how the state's manipulation of citizens' time reinforces existing power structures and social inequalities. The work connects individual experiences of waiting to broader patterns of political subordination and the exercise of state power in Argentina. This ethnographic study raises fundamental questions about democracy, citizenship rights, and how bureaucratic systems can serve as mechanisms of social control. The findings have implications beyond Argentina, offering insights into how states everywhere manage and regulate their poorest citizens through time.

Readers highlight Auyero's ethnographic approach in documenting how poor citizens experience bureaucratic delays and waiting in Argentina. Several reviewers note the book provides clear examples of how state power manifests through making people wait. Strengths cited: - Clear writing style and accessible academic prose - Effective use of real patient stories and examples - Strong theoretical framework connecting waiting to power dynamics - Valuable contribution to understanding everyday experiences of poverty Common criticisms: - Some repetition in examples and arguments - Limited scope focusing only on Buenos Aires - Could have included more comparative analysis with other countries Ratings: Goodreads: 4.0/5 (12 ratings) Amazon: 5/5 (2 ratings) Google Books: No ratings One sociology professor reviewer wrote: "The theoretical insights about temporality and power are valuable, but the real strength lies in the vivid ethnographic details of how waiting shapes people's lives." [Limited review data available online for this academic text]

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🕒 The book's ethnographic research took place in the waiting rooms of welfare offices in Buenos Aires, where the author spent countless hours observing how the poor were made to wait as a form of political control. 🇦🇷 Javier Auyero's work reveals how waiting has become a defining experience of citizenship for Argentina's poor, effectively turning them into "patients of the state" who must demonstrate infinite patience to receive basic services. 📚 The research draws parallels between waiting in welfare offices and waiting during other historical periods in Argentina, including the years of military dictatorship, showing how temporal power has been consistently used as a tool of domination. 🏆 Author Javier Auyero is the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Professor in Latin American Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and has won multiple awards for his ethnographic work in Argentina. 🔍 The book introduces the concept of "tempography" - a detailed documentation of waiting periods that reveals how state power operates through the manipulation of time, particularly in the lives of marginalized populations.