| Summary: | Argentina was one of the wealthiest countries on Earth at the turn of the twentieth century. It boasted one of the highest literacy rates in the world and an income per capita on par with that of the United States and higher than that of Italy, Spain and Portugal. After a tumultuous second half of the twentieth century, however, by 2024, Argentina’s annual inflation rate exceeded 289%, and more than half of Argentines lived in poverty. Young adults in Argentina have witnessed the peso rapidly depreciate over the course of nearly their entire lives, losing more than 99.9% of its value from 2001 to 2024. This study investigates how young professionals in Argentina pursue future prosperity amid sustained economic crisis. Given the heightened instability they face in the present, this thesis explores the ways young Argentine professionals approach the future, especially as regards their long-term careers, their personal and familial aspirations and the ways they understand their positionality within Argentina’s historical and economic development. A Foucauldian theoretical framework is adopted to scrutinize the ways neoliberalism responsibilizes citizens for their economic well-being and to inspect the premise of research participants’ involvement in the economy. The findings of the study are presented via 15 themes drawn from the remarks of 11 individuals interviewed in central-
western Argentina (Cuyo) in July and August 2024. In short, participants pursue future prosperity by making calculated decisions on a daily or near-daily basis, prioritizing short-term goals and remaining hopeful as they navigate unrelenting uncertainty. They engage with the future as it pertains to the past and the crisis in the present, not in spite of them. The paper concludes by raising questions about the nature of personal control under neoliberalism and by asking if the economic milieu of their country is the sole reason Argentine futurists are exposed to chronic insecurity.
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