Margins of freedom

A Field-Theoretic Approach to Class-Based Health Dispositions and Practices

Bibliographic Data

ID2249246
AuthorsPatrick Burnett (0000-0002-7123-9161, University of British Columbia, corresponding author), Patrick John Burnett (Department of Sociology University of British Columbia Vancouver Canada), Gerry Veenstra (0000-0001-6917-3784, Department of Sociology University of British Columbia Vancouver Canada)
Year2017
Volume39
Issue7
Pages1050-1067
Publication date2017-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9566.12544
PMID28332203
OpenAlexW2597668003
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited46

Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice situates social practices in the relational interplay between experiential mental phenomena (habitus), resources (capitals) and objective social structures (fields). When applied to class-based practices in particular, the overarching field of power within which social classes are potentially made manifest is the primary field of interest. Applying relational statistical techniques to original survey data from Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, we investigated whether smoking, engaging in physical activity and consuming fruit and vegetables are dispersed in a three-dimensional field of power shaped by economic and cultural capitals and cultural dispositions and practices. We find that aesthetic dispositions and flexibility of developing and established dispositions are associated with positioning in the Canadian field of power and embedded in the logics of the health practices dispersed in the field. From this field-theoretic perspective, behavioural change requires the disruption of existing relations of harmony between the habitus of agents, the fields within which the practices are enacted and the capitals that inform and enforce the mores and regularities of the fields.The three-dimensional model can be explored at: https://www.sociologix.ca/margins-freedom.html [Correction made on 2 December 2020, after issue publication: link to the three-dimensional model has been updated in this version

Class (philosophy · Degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry · Epistemology · Field (mathematics · Physics · Pure mathematics · Sociology · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology · Mathematics · Obesity and Health Practices · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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