Esta Es Mi Trayectoria, Este Es Mi Trabajo: Narrativas e Identidad en el Trabajo en Chile

This article presents the results of a qualitative study on labor trajectories and the construction of work identities in different work settings in 5 regions of Chile. Its purpose was to identify strategies of identity construction in the narratives that the subjects shape on the basis of their labor trajectories. The narratives of a purposive sample of 15 workers from different fields and with various career paths were analyzed. The methodological design used was based on the grounded theory model. The information generated from individual in-depth interviews was analyzed following the method of continuous comparison, which led to the identification of 3 narrative logics: logic of the character, of the testimony, and of the projection. Each of them accounts for a position from which subjects structure and tell their trajectories, showing themselves to the others, differentiating themselves from others, and revealing strategies of identity construction at work. These narrative logics do not refer to objectified features of their paths, but to pillars through which continuity is attributed to one’s trajectory and meaning is ascribed to labor experience.