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Difference between revisions of "Gorroneo (Spain and Hispanic America)"
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Another common practice of free-riding is associated with ''pagar la ronda'', whereby one would skip paying for a round of drinks for an entire group, normally paid in turns by volunteers. Common among family or friends, ''pagar la ronda'' has no preassigned turns or precise calculations of bills for drinking or eating. Rotation is exercised on the basis of an unarticulated tacit rule that is recognized especially when it is violated. The ritual involves someone paying for the first round and others continuing in sequence, in the spirit of friendship, sometimes enacting a fight over paying ahead of others. The turn-taking is unproblematic until it is broken, just like a long pause in a conversation or other forms of disruptions of the ʻinteractive orderʼ (Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson 1974 | Another common practice of free-riding is associated with ''pagar la ronda'', whereby one would skip paying for a round of drinks for an entire group, normally paid in turns by volunteers. Common among family or friends, ''pagar la ronda'' has no preassigned turns or precise calculations of bills for drinking or eating. Rotation is exercised on the basis of an unarticulated tacit rule that is recognized especially when it is violated. The ritual involves someone paying for the first round and others continuing in sequence, in the spirit of friendship, sometimes enacting a fight over paying ahead of others. The turn-taking is unproblematic until it is broken, just like a long pause in a conversation or other forms of disruptions of the ʻinteractive orderʼ (Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson 1974, Goffman 1983). The ''gorrón'' violates the tacit rule by avoiding paying for the round. When people realize that the ''gorrón'' takes advantage of them by not paying while being capable of doing so, they exclude ''gorrón'' from the next meeting or apply other ways to ostracize the offender. The ''gorrón''’s free-riding and subsequent sanctions undermine the circle of trust, sharing and reciprocity and may break pagar la ronda altogether, resulting in members paying for their own drink. In some cases, practices of free-riding are considered to be socially acceptable, particularly in dire economic circumstances, whereby a group of better-off friends allow the ''gorrón'' to be “invited”. However, the ''gorrón'' is at risk of being excluded when circumstances change, or do not change for too long a time, or if someone in the group stops tolerating the ''gorron''’s behaviour. | ||
''Gorra'' means ʻhatʼ or ʻcapʼ. There are two connected interpretations of the origins of ''gorroneo'' as an expression for free-riding (Sánchez Hidalgo 2018). One emphasizes the ‘ability to get in’ due to wearing a certain hat (''gorra''), whereby greeting the doorman like a gentleman, taking off the hat, and blending in allows one to crash a party or sneak into a banquet with guests one does not know. The phrase ''entrar de gorra'' means ʻfree entryʼ. Related expressions are associated with the hat being turned upside down: ''vivir de gorra'', in Spanish meaning ‘living for free’, at the expense of others; ''pasar la gorra'', literally asking for money by holding your hat, usually begging, as well as asking for tips after a public spectacle; or ''gorrillas'', the self-appointed parking attendants (see [[Stoyanshik]]). | ''Gorra'' means ʻhatʼ or ʻcapʼ. There are two connected interpretations of the origins of ''gorroneo'' as an expression for free-riding (Sánchez Hidalgo 2018). One emphasizes the ‘ability to get in’ due to wearing a certain hat (''gorra''), whereby greeting the doorman like a gentleman, taking off the hat, and blending in allows one to crash a party or sneak into a banquet with guests one does not know. The phrase ''entrar de gorra'' means ʻfree entryʼ. Related expressions are associated with the hat being turned upside down: ''vivir de gorra'', in Spanish meaning ‘living for free’, at the expense of others; ''pasar la gorra'', literally asking for money by holding your hat, usually begging, as well as asking for tips after a public spectacle; or ''gorrillas'', the self-appointed parking attendants (see [[Stoyanshik]]). | ||
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Outside Spain, these terms became common in Latin America from the sixteenth century with the first colonial-indigenous language encounters. They can be found in the Spanish-Quechua vocabulary (González Holguín 1608). The term ''garronear'' in Argentina and Uruguay and ''gorrear'' in Mexico have similar meanings to ''gorroneo''. In Chile and Bolivia, the meaning of ''gorrear'' has evolved to signify being sexually unfaithful to a spouse. In this sense, the term ''gorrona'' was also used in Spain as synonym of prostitute, but has since become disuse. Most of the associated terms carry negative connotations and are morally reprehensible. | Outside Spain, these terms became common in Latin America from the sixteenth century with the first colonial-indigenous language encounters. They can be found in the Spanish-Quechua vocabulary (González Holguín 1608). The term ''garronear'' in Argentina and Uruguay and ''gorrear'' in Mexico have similar meanings to ''gorroneo''. In Chile and Bolivia, the meaning of ''gorrear'' has evolved to signify being sexually unfaithful to a spouse. In this sense, the term ''gorrona'' was also used in Spain as synonym of prostitute, but has since become disuse. Most of the associated terms carry negative connotations and are morally reprehensible. | ||
Like other informal practices in Spain and worldwide, ''gorroneo'' can be included into a set of survival and subsistence practices in response to power constraints of unequal social structures (Pitt Rivers 1971 | Like other informal practices in Spain and worldwide, ''gorroneo'' can be included into a set of survival and subsistence practices in response to power constraints of unequal social structures (Pitt Rivers 1971, Scott 1985). However, the character of a ''gorrón'' can qualify as a case of an archetypal trickster, a rule-bender, border-crosser and free-rider who appears in the mythology of most cultures thus blurring ʻthe boundary between need and greedʼ (Ledeneva 2018: 3) . In literary contexts, foxy characters tend to be portrayed in an ambivalent fashion: street-smart, good-humored and entertaining, while also morally reprehensible, unsavory and parasitic. Beyond of the scope of literature and literary critique of the sociological realism of the picaresque genre (Rico 1989, Cabo Aseguinolaza 1992), more research is needed on current picaresque practices like ''gorroneo'', that are embedded in the complex ethos of sharing and [[Amici|friendship]] specific to the Spanish social, cultural and historical context. | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
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Ledeneva, A. 2018. ''The Global Encyclopeaedia of Informality. Understanding Social and Cultural Complexity. Volume 2.'' London: UCL Press | Ledeneva, A. 2018. ''The Global Encyclopeaedia of Informality. Understanding Social and Cultural Complexity. Volume 2.'' London: UCL Press | ||
Pitt Rivers, J. A. 1971. '' | Pitt Rivers, J. A. 1971. ''The people of the Sierra''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press | ||
Real Academia Española. 2019. “Gorronear; Gorrón; Pegote; Godería; Rozavillón.” In ''Diccionario de La Lengua Española'', https://dle.rae.es/?id=JMrUqze | Real Academia Española. 2019. “Gorronear; Gorrón; Pegote; Godería; Rozavillón.” In ''Diccionario de La Lengua Española'', https://dle.rae.es/?id=JMrUqze | ||