Bourdieu's Field and the Sociology of Welfare

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2116707
AutoresMichel Peillon (National University of Ireland, Maynooth, autor correspondente)
Ano1998
Volume27
Fascículo2
Páginas213-229
Data de publicação1998-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Social Policy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0047-2794 • E-ISSN: 1469-7823
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047279498005273
OpenAlexW1983336714
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas42

Bourdieu conceptualises most aspects of social life in terms of fields, which constitute sites of struggle over a central stake. The resources which are used in these struggles, and whose appropriation is at stake, are defined as types of capital: economic, cultural, social and symbolic. Each field involves a set of players, of agents who are engaged in practices and strategies on the basis of an habitus. It is contended in this article that such an approach can be usefully mobilised to develop a sociological analysis of welfare. The model has to be slightly altered to make it more adequate for the study of the welfare field. First, what Bourdieu calls political capital is given a more prominent place. Secondly, the focus is more definitely set on the rates at which types of capital are converted in the welfare field. It is argued that such a model satisfies the central requirements of a sociology of welfare, in that it places welfare activities within the wider social context while grasping their internal dynamic. It provides an effective framework for addressing the main questions which are raised by a sociology of welfare

Appropriation · Context (archaeology) · Cultural capital · Economics · Epistemology · Field (mathematics) · Habitus · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Social science · Sociology · Welfare · Law · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Capital and Networks · Social Policy and Reform Studies