Professional specialization and traditional and new competences in judiciary courts of Buenos Aires conurbation

Work in justice administration in Argentina has involved a process of profound changes in social structures manifesting themselves more intensely since the last decade of the 20^th century. This has impacted professional socialization in the judiciary courts and has involved a complex interchange of higher educational background, professional training and changes in working culture.

 This paper analyses professional identities in justice administration in light of various changes, from the expansion of New Public Management concepts in justice administration to the growth of socio-economical marginality and poverty in the heavily populated areas of the Buenos Aires conurbation after the socio-economical crisis in 2001.

Through the analysis of the judiciary courts (as institutions), legal doctrines, legal cultures, and the organizational structure of justice administration, we investigate changes in law and transformations in social representations of judiciary workers and in the division of functions, occupations and tasks in courts of the Buenos Aires conurbation.

We observe how the needs of a population living in a social context characterized by poverty, marginality and precariousness (of work and life), together with an increase in professional specialization and requirements of both traditional and new competences related to economic and technological changes, influence identities, culture and forms of conscience of judicial workers in the judiciary courts of Buenos Aires conurbation.