ABSTRACT
For several decades, development studies have discussed the effects of oil on economic, social, and political development. Although increasingly contested, the Resource Curse paradigm maintains its dominance in the debate. Moreover, during the last few years, activists and researchers alike have increasingly emphasized the negative socio-environmental consequences of oil extraction. In sum, oil-based societies have reason to mistrust promises regarding oil-based development successes and to contest exploitation. However, in oil towns this suspicion generally does not happen. Although oil does trigger conflicts in oil towns too, these conflicts generally center on the control of oil rents and their distribution, but not extraction.
Based on qualitative fieldwork that incorporates insights from political economy and social anthropology, we analyze how inhabitants of Comodoro Rivadavia in Argentina’s Patagonia construct and maintain a consensus on oil. We found that the consensus on oil permeates the whole local society and even strengthens during crises. We argue that this social consensus on oil extraction rests upon both a material basis (e.g., rent distribution, employment, economic dependency) and the construction and resignification of historical social imaginaries that are reflected in quasi-naturalized claims towards the state, particular consumption and distinction patterns as well as specific society-nature relations and different ideas of individual and collective progress. We conclude that oil culture is a crucial factor for understanding the construction of support for the oil industry in spite of its adverse consequences.
