Class, Individualisation and Perceived (Dis)advantages: Not Either/Or but Both/And?

One of the core contentions of individualisation is that the residents of contemporary Western nations are no longer willing or able to perceive the motors of their life paths as external, social forces such as \'class\' or material resources and instead talk of internal, personal facets and motivations. This paper, grounded in a Bourdieusian understanding of class, engages with this prominent assertion through analysis of 55 life-history interviews with people from a mix of class positions. It reveals that though individualistic sentiments are present, the respondents were all too ready to cite various forms of capital as advantages or disadvantages as well, though the degree to which they were seen as \'external\' or \'individualised\' differed by class. Furthermore, when \'class\' was brought explicitly into the frame it was generally seen as a playing a fundamental role in life\'s trajectory, but mainly through issues of interaction and (mis)recognition rather than deprivation and inequality. Insofar as individualistic schemes of perception and class thus intertwine these processes could be said to represent what Beck refers to as a \'both/and\' situation, but since they are neither particularly new nor damaging to class analysis the individualisation thesis is put in doubt.Bauman, Beck, Bourdieu, Capital, Class, Individualisation, Self-Perception

The Structure of Literary Taste:Class, Gender and Reading in the UK

In Distinction, Bourdieu indicated that literary taste was just as homologous with social class as tastes in music, food or art, even if it received comparatively little attention. Recent scholarship across various nations aiming to test, update and refine Bourdieu’s thesis has generally confirmed a relationship between cultural capital and reading habits, but neglect of Bourdieu’s multidimensional view of class, as well as reliance on rather undifferentiated genre categories, has tended to limit the conclusions. On top of that, gender is often flagged as far more important to the structuring of literary taste than Bourdieu ever supposed. This article seeks to overcome the limitations of extant research and clarify the relationship between class and gender in structuring literary taste, and thus symbolic domination, by exploring data relating to reading preferences in the 2012 British Cohort Study using a Bourdieusian class scheme.</jats:p

The social space and misrecognition in 21st century France

This article seeks to revisit the French social space 30 years after Pierre Bourdieu first mapped it in Distinction. Using data from the International Social Survey Programme, it deploys geometric data analysis to construct a model of the space of class positions that is remarkably similar in its structure to that presented by Bourdieu despite three decades of economic transformation. The relationship with occupational groups and geographical space is also familiar, though gender and, to a greater extent, age are perhaps more prominent than when Bourdieu was writing. The article then goes on to demonstrate the multidimensional nature of symbolic violence, in the form of perception of one’s place, and the manner in which social reproduction is misrecognised. On the latter point, it transpires that while there is recognition of unfair advantage, not only is faith in meritocracy the prevailing view but the dominated are the most likely to deny that having educated parents makes a difference to whether one ‘gets ahead’ or not

Same formula, different figures: change and persistence in class inequalities

Muitos teóricos sociais contemporâneos têm defendido que as mudanças sociais ocorridas nas últimas décadas aniquilaram a influência das classes nas histórias de vida, nas identidades e na política, colocando no seu lugar a escolha reflexiva e o individualismo. Este artigo apresenta uma síntese dos resultados de um projecto de investigação recentemente realizado no Reino Unido com o objectivo de testar essas teses. Partindo de um modelo de classes “fenomenológico-bourdieusiano”, e recorrendo a entrevistas de história de vida, a pesquisa revela não o declínio das classes mas a sua reinvenção no capitalismo avançado. Têm vindo a surgir novas práticas e novos percursos, mas tal representa apenas a mudança da substância das classes—enquanto a estrutura subjacente das diferenças relacionais que define as classes e produz diferentes manifestações permanece tão patente como dantes.Manycontemporary social theorists have argued that the social changes of the last few decades have shattered the hold of class over life histories, identities and politics and put in its place reflexive choice and individualism. This paper presents asummaryof a recently completed research project in theUKdesigned to put these claims to the test. Starting out from a “phenomeno-Bourdieusian” model of class and deploying life history interviews it reveals not the decline of class in advanced capitalism, but its reinvention. Newpractices and pathways have emerged, but they represent only the shifting substance of class—the underlying structure of relational difference that defines class and produces different outcomes remains as patent as ever.Nombre de sociologues contemporains soutiennent que les changements sociaux survenus au cours des dernières décennies ont anéanti l’influence des classes sur les histoires de vie, sur les identités et sur la politique, en mettant à leur place le choix réflexif et l’individualisme. Cet article présente une synthèse des résultats d’un projet de recherche mené au Royaume-Uni dans le but de tester ces thèses. En partant d’un modèle de classes “phénoménologique/bourdieusien” et en réalisant des entretiens d’histoires de vie, la recherche révèle non pas le déclin des classes mais leur réinvention dans le capitalisme avancé. On peut observer de nouvelles pratiques et de nouveaux parcours, mais cela traduit uniquement le changement de la substance des classes—tandis que perdure la structure sous-jacente des différences relationnelles qui définit les classes et produit différentes manifestations.Muchos teóricos sociales contemporáneos han defendido que los cambios sociales ocurridos en las últimas décadas aniquilaron la influencia de las clases en las historias de vida, en las identidades y en la política, colocando en su lugar la elección reflexiva y el individualismo. Este artículo presenta una síntesis de los resultados de un proyecto de investigación recientemente realizado en el Reino Unido con el objetivo de probar esas tesis. Partiendo de un modelo de clases “fenomenológico- bourdieusiano”, y recurriendo a entrevistas biográficas, la investigación revela no el declive de las clases pero sí su reinvención en el capitalismo avanzado. Han surgido nuevas prácticas y nuevos recorridos, lo que representa apenas el cambio de la substancia de las clases—en relación a la estructura subyacente de las diferencias relacionales que define a las clases y produce diferentes manifestaciones permanece tan patente como antes

Chapter 3 Social Spaces

"This first volume of The Class Structure of Capitalist Societies offers a bold and wide-ranging assessment of the shape and effects of class systems across a diverse range of capitalist nations. Plumbing a trove of data and deploying cutting-edge techniques, it carefully maps the distribution of the key sources of power and documents the major convergences and divergences between market societies old and new. Establishing that the multidimensional vision of class proposed decades ago by Pierre Bourdieu appears to hold good throughout Europe, parts of the wider Western world and Eastern Asia, the book goes on to examine a number of significant themes: the relationship between class and occupation; the intersection of class with gender, religion, geography and age; the correspondences between social position and political attitudes; self-positioning in the class structure; and the extent of belief in meritocracy. For all the striking cross-national commonalities, however, the book unearths consistent variations seemingly linked to distinct politico-economic regimes. This title will appeal to scholars and advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in sociology, politics and demography and is essential reading for all those interested in social class across the globe.