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Bourdieu
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- 1Who was Bourdieu?An influential, French sociologist. His main idea was that individuals struggle for status in many social fields, but class background continues to shape expectations, characters & outlooks in a way that tends to perpetuate class society & an individual’s position within it.
- 2How was Bourdieu similar to but different from Marx?Like Marx, inequality & class were central to his understanding of conflict & his analysis of class inequality provided a significant contribution to the field of Sociology. In contrast to Marx, Bourdieu was personable & rejected Marx’s macro, structural approach & economistic interpretations of social class as objectively determined.
- 3How did Bourdieu view Structure & Action?As dependent on each other rather than opposed. Both objective & subjective accounts were inadequate because they were one-sided & only helped us to understand either structure or action in isolation. He aimed to develop an approach to Sociology that examined subjective experiences of an objective social life.
- 4Where did Bourdieu's rejection of Subjective approaches stem from?His reactions to Sartre & existentialism. He believed that social inequality was rooted in objective structures of unequal distributions of types of capital. His acknowledgement of an objective social reality meant that he was critical of subjectivist approaches that ignore how individual actions are shaped by cultural & material constraints.
- 5Where did Bourdieu's rejection of Objective approaches stem from?His opposition to Lévi-Strauss & structuralism. He was heavily influenced by structuralism, but he criticised the approach because it tended to explain the structuring of action only as the result of external forces that push us in either direction. He believed that structuralism was too deterministic & focused on too heavily on macro-level structures.
- 6How did Bourdieu attempt to reconcile Structure & Action?By observing structure in terms of how they are produced & reproduced in action. Ultimately, Bourdieu viewed structure as guiding & constraining action, but he also recognised that structure is generated & reproduced by actors.
- 7What was Bourdieu's definition of Social Class?Like Weber, he incorporated the economic, social & cultural spheres & linked class to status & positions, as well as property ownership. His definition was more complex as it included lifestyle indicators, tastes & characteristics. Therefore, Bourdieu emphasised that cultural practises are indicators of underlying class distinctions which lay on several axis, each relating to forms of capital.
- 8How was Bourdieu more interested in Class Formation rather than Class Structure?Bourdieu claimed that social classes are not simply given in reality but are contested identities that are constructed through struggle. Bourdieu placed emphasis on the political, symbolic & legal struggles that go into formulating classes..
- 9Why is Bourdieu's definition of Social Class better suited to the modern day?Bourdieu’s model was much broader & his notion of class structure included the entirety of the occupational division of labour. So, his model encompasses middle-class occupations, state positions, intellectuals & artists. His approach does not neglect the middle-classes like Marx's did.
- 10What did Bourdieu mean by Capital?Capital generally refers to resources, including material things & culturally significant attributes such as prestige, status & authority. The 3 main types of capital are economic, social & cultural. Those who possess large amounts of economic capital, are likely to also possess much cultural & social capital. Bourdieu was particularly interested in how capital was a basis of domination.
- 11How did Bourdieu's idea of Capital Conversion influence Leech & Campos?They found that middle-class parents are using their economic capital to purchase houses in the catchment areas of good schools which is leading to a process of selection by mortgage. So, economic capital is routinely converted into educational capital & class inequality is maintained because those born into rich families benefit from ascribed status & the capital that their parents possess.
- 12How did Bourdieu show how the different types of Capital play out in society?Different groups in society relate to each other based on the kind of capital that they possess. Holders of a white-collar job may feel superior to blue-collar workers even if they are paid no more. So, economic capital is not superior, because symbolic capital, through perceptions of an occupation, may make someone feel superior despite no difference in income.
- 13What did Bourdieu mean by Habitus?Agents classify themselves by choosing, in conformity with their tastes, different attributes, clothes, hobbies & friends which they find suitable for their position. Habitus is a physical manifestation of the capital that each individual possesses by capturing the way in which one’s social environment can be inscribed on the body. Those who occupy similar positions in the social structure share the same habitus.
- 14Where does the power of Habitus derive from?The thoughtlessness of habit rather than consciously learned rules & principles. Therefore, habitus is acquired through repetition & is exercised unconsciously. But habitus is flexible & operates as a set of loose guidelines. Generally, habitus is the embodiment of socially learned behaviours.
- 15Why does Bourdieu argue that the Habitus reproduces class inequalities?The resistance we confront in struggling to do well teaches us to accept inequality in our societies. So, our habitus encourages us to make life choices based on realistic expectations, rather than aspiration. Hence, our habitus structures our expectations in a way that tends to perpetuate class society & inequality comes to feel natural.
- 16HShe studied working-class boys attending grammar schools & found that the boys came under pressure to conform to middle‐class attitudes through discourse on appropriate language, behaviour & taste. The working-class habitus was not compatible with the values of the grammar school so the boys were forced to neglect their working-class habitus if they wanted to succeed.
- 17What did Bourdieu mean by Field?A social arena within which struggles or manoeuvres take place over specific resources & access to them. Within a field, participants occupy different social positions, some of which are superior & they compete for greater levels of capital. A field is structured internally in terms of power relations, some social positions are dominant because they have access to greater capital. The closer the positions are between classes in a field, the more likely these actors share a habitus.
- 18How did Bourdieu's approach differ from Marx's deterministic approach?Bourdieu noted that actors have the opportunity to increase their level of capital within a field by exchanging capital between fields & this is vital to ensure social mobility. Subsequently, Bourdieu believes in small, piecemeal changes to improve society rather than a complete overthrow of the system.
- 19How was Bourdieu's approach similar to Marx's deterministic one?Bourdieu argued that the rules of the game are controlled by the bourgeoisie. He recognised that domination is reproduced because power & authority are concentrated at the top. Hence, struggles within a field masks the privileges of the upper-classes by creating a system in which it is normal to compete for capital, despite an unequal starting position.
- 20What did Bourdieu mean by Symbolic Power?It's based on the possession of symbolic capital which is the power granted to those who have obtained sufficient recognition to be in a position to impose recognition. The upper-classes have the power to define their tastes & lifestyles as culturally desirable. So, symbolic power enables cultural reproduction of habitus & social fields.
- 21What is the opposite of Symbolic Capital?Symbolic violence which is the imposition of systems of culture upon groups or classes in such a way that they are experienced as legitimate. So, lifestyles are ranked & the upper-class habitus is viewed as superior, whereas the working-class habitus is devalued & they suffer from symbolic violence.
- 22How is Symbolic Violence continually produced by the upper-classes?Throughout history, people have always tried to gain symbolic capital by imitating the upper-classes. Yet, this generates conflict & the dominant are likely to resist any potential devaluation of their capital by restricting access to it or by switching to more exclusive goods. So, the upper-classes have the power to continually popularise or devalue an item or activity once it is widely accessible.
- 23How has Bourdieu's concept of Symbolic Violence influenced Reay?She investigated working-class students & higher education. She found that often working-class students would self-exclude from elite universities, which would narrow their options & limit their success. So, symbolic violence has an impact on what working-class individuals feel that they can achieve in an education system which is dominated by upper-class values.
- 24How has Bourdieu's key concepts influenced Skeggs?She studied a group of white working-class women & recorded how they were born into structures of inequality which provided differential amounts of capital which restricted them. She demonstrated that the women were disadvantaged not only by class, but also by gender. Due to little trading power the women were excluded from various parts of social life & confined to the private sphere.
- 25How has Bourdieu's key concepts influenced Skeggs?Skeggs suggests that femininity brings with it little social, political & economic worth. But the women used their femininity as a form of cultural capital, which resulted in using their bodies as an object of exchange. Unlike Bourdieu, Skeggs demonstrated that the women fought to overcome their status by improving themselves through marriage & education.
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- (Autumn) SC301 Revision Fichas sobre Bourdieu , creado por Miss Rogers el 16/01/2020.
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