Urban informality and confinement: toward a relational framework

In the 21st century, a growing number of people live ‘informal’ lives within fissures between legality and informality. Concomitantly, power relations are increasingly expressed through devices of confinement. While urban informality and confinement are on the rise often occurring simultaneously, scholars have so far studied them separately. By contrast, this article proposes a new framework for analysing urban informality and confinement relationally. It generates new insights into the role of informality in the (re)production of confinement and, vice versa, the role of confinement in shaping informal practices. While these insights are valuable for urban studies in general, the article charts new lines of research on urban marginality. It also discusses how the six articles included in this special issue signal the heuristic potential of this relational framework by empirically examining distinct urban configurations of ‘confined informalities’ and ‘informal confinements’ across the Global North and the Global South

O legado sociológico de Pierre Bourdieu: duas dimensões e uma nota pessoal

O presente artigo compõe-se de três partes, retraçando e discutindo, em cada uma delas, a vida e a obra sociológica de Pierre Bourdieu, falecido em janeiro de 2002. A primeira parte apresenta a carreira do pensador francês, procurando relacionar cada etapa de sua vida com o desenvolvimento de seu pensamento, desde os estudos primários no interior da França até seu reconhecimento internacional, passando pelo aprendizado de filosofia em Paris e pelas investigações antropológicas na Argélia. A segunda parte consiste em uma discussão, por meio de uma entrevista, da sociologia reflexiva, da "lógica da prática" e de outros conceitos formulados por Bourdieu com o objetivo de estudar a realidade social e incitar à descoberta de novas agendas de pesquisa. A terceira parte tematiza a importância da revista Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, criada pelo sociólogo e destinada a ultrapassar as várias fronteiras, de nacionalidade ou disciplinares, que cercam e limitam a produção científica. Abstract This article is made up of three parts, each of which re-traces and discusses the life and sociological work of Pierre Bourdieu, who died in January of 2002. The first section discusses the French thinker's career, and seeks to relate each stage of his life with the ongoing development of his thought - from his primary schooling in the French interior to his international recognition, and including his studies in Philosophy in Paris and anthropological research in Algeria. The second section uses an interview to engage in a discussion of reflexive sociology, of "the logic of practice", and of other concepts that Bourdieu formulated for the study of social reality and to incite the discovery of new research agendas. The third section discusses the importance of the journal Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales which Bourdieu founded, meant to transcend the several boundaries of nationality and disciplines which circumscribe and limit scientific production. Résumé Cet article est composé de trois parties où l'on retrace la vie et l'oeuvre sociologique de Pierre Bourdieu, décédé en janvier 2002 et l'on en discute. La première partie présente la carrière du penseur français et cherche à mettre en rapport chaque étape de sa vie avec le développement de sa pensée depuis les premières études en province jusqu'à sa renommée internationale. On se reporte également à ses études de philosophie à Paris et aux investigations anthropologiques en Argélie. La seconde partie consiste en un débat, par le biais d'une interview, de la sociologie réflexive, de la "logique de la pratique" et d'autres concepts formulés par Bourdieu avec l'objectif d'étudier la réalité sociale et d'inciter à la découverte des nouveaux agendas de recherche. La troisième partie a pour thème l'importance de la revue Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, fondée par le sociologue et destinée à dépasser les diverses frontières de nationalité et de disciplines, qui entourent et limitent la production scientifique

O SURGIMENTO DA MARGINALIDADE AVANÇADA NOTAS SOBRE SUA NATUREZA E IMPLICAÇÕES

O artigo examina o surgimento da “marginalidade avançada” e de novas formas de exclusão social em cidades do “Primeiro Mundo”, resultantes de transformações desiguais e desarticuladas dos setores mais avançados das sociedades e economias ocidentais. O autor preocupa-se também em avaliar as implicações dessas novas formas de exclusão para a teoria e pesquisa urbanas

A level playing ‘field’? A Bourdieusian analysis of the career aspirations of further education students on sports courses

There is currently a distinct dearth of research into how sports students’ career aspirations are formed during their post-compulsory education. This article, based on an ethnographic study of sport students in tertiary education, draws on data collected from two first-year cohorts (n = 34) on two different courses at a further education college in England. The study draws on ethnographic observations, and semi-structured group interviews, to examine in-depth the contrasting occupational perspectives emergent within these two groups of mainly working-class students, and how specific cultural practices affect students’ career aspirations. Utilising a Bourdieusian framework, the paper analyses the internalised, often latent cultural practices that impact upon these students’ diverse career aspirations. The hitherto under-researched dimension of inter-habitus interaction and also the application of doxa are outlined. The article reveals how the two student cohorts are situated within a complex field of relations, where struggles for legitimisation, academic accomplishment and numerous forms of lucrative capital become habituated. The study offers salient Bourdieusian-inspired insights into the career aspirations of these predominantly working-class students and the ways in which certain educational practices contribute to the production and reproduction of class inequalities

The Right to Rent : active resistance to evolving geographies of state regulation

Drawing on recent qualitative research on the UK's Immigration Act 2016, this article sets out to explain the opposition of social housing professionals to the imposition of the Right to Rent. By locating this policy intervention within the evolving geographies of state regulation, it is possible to account for the mechanisms through which housing professionals can resist the extension of duties that were previously the remit of border agents and immigration officials. Synthesizing Bourdieu's critical sociology with Boltanski and Thevenot's sociology of critique helps explain not only the governmental underpinnings of contemporary immigration rhetoric, but also the forms of resistance for which housing professionals display a strong justification in exercising. The universal nature of ‘classification struggles’ within and beyond state institutions extends the relevance of this research to encompass most, if not all, welfarist regimes operating within actually existing neoliberal orders. The analysis of the findings of this research has wider implications that reach beyond housing and urban studies while immigration persists as one of the most significant contemporary political issues, almost without geographical exception, right across the globe.PostprintPeer reviewe

Professional golf - A license to spend money? Issues of money in the lives of touring professional golfers

This is the authors' PDF version of an article which appeared online on 11/11/2014 in published in Journal of Sport and Social Issues© 2014. The definitive version is available at http:dx.doi.org/10.1177/0193723514557819Drawing upon figurational sociology, this paper examines issues of money that are central to touring professional golfers’ workplace experiences. Based on interviews with 16 professionals, results indicate the monetary rewards available for top golfers continues to increase, however, such recompense is available to relatively small numbers and the majority fare poorly. Results suggest that playing on tour with other like-minded golfers fosters internalized constraints relating to behaviour, referred to as ‘habitus’, whereby many players ‘gamble’ on pursuing golf as their main source of income despite the odds against them. Golfers are constrained to develop networks with sponsors for financial reasons which has left some players with conflicting choices between regular money, and adhering to restrictive contractual agreements, or the freedom to choose between different brands

Europe’s perennial "outsiders": a processual approach to Roma stigmatization and ghettoization

This paper draws on the theoretical work of Norbert Elias and Loïc Wacquant in seeking to understand the stigmatized and marginalized position of the Roma population within Europe. The paper argues that the persistent persecution of Roma, reflected in social policy, cannot be understood without reference to long-term social processes, which shape the nature of the asymmetric power relations between Roma and non-Roma. Elias's theory of established-outsider relations is applied at the intra-state European level in arguing that Roma constitute a cross-border "outsider" group; with their intense stigmatization explained and perpetuated by a common set of collective fantasies which are maintained through complex group processes of disidentification, and which result in Roma being seen as of lesser human worth. Wacquant's theoretical concept of the "ghetto" is then drawn upon to show how the manifestations of stigmatization for the stigmatized are at once psychological, social and spatial. The paper suggests that the synthesis of the two theorists' relational, theoretical concepts allows for an approach that can expose the way in which power is exercised within and through group relations. Such an approach emphasizes the centrality of the interdependence between Roma and non-Roma, and the fluctuating power balance that characterises that relationship across time and space. The paper concludes that, while existing research focused on policy and outcomes is useful in understanding the negative contemporary experiences of Roma populations, they need to be understood in the context of wider social processes and historical continuities in seeking to elucidate how these processes shape policies and contribute to social and spatial marginalization

Place attachment in deprived neighbourhoods: The impacts of population turnover and social mix

This paper examines the determinants of individual place attachment, focussing in particular on differences between deprived and others neighbourhoods, and on the impacts of population turnover and social mix. It uses a multi-level modelling approach to take account of both individual- and neighbourhood-level determinants. Data are drawn from a large sample government survey, the Citizenship Survey 2005, to which a variety of neighbourhood-level data have been attached. The paper argues that attachment is significantly lower in more deprived neighbourhoods primarily because these areas have weaker social cohesion but that, in other respects, the drivers of attachment are the same. Turnover has modest direct impacts on attachment through its effect on social cohesion. Social mix has very limited impacts on attachment and the effects vary between social groups. In general, higher status or more dominant groups appear less tolerant of social mix

A tempestade global da lei e ordem: sobre punição e neoliberalismo

Este artigo reflete sobre a recepção internacional ao livro Prisões da miséria como reveladora da expansão penal nas sociedades avançadas na década de 2000. Ele revela que a tempestade global da "lei e ordem" inspirada pelos Estados Unidos, que o livro detectou em 1999, continuou a espalhar-se por toda a parte. Na verdade, ela estendeu-se dos países do Primeiro Mundo para os do Segundo Mundo e alterou a política e as práticas de punição em todo o globo de uma forma que ninguém previa e que ninguém teria pensado como possível há cerca de 15 anos. O artigo estende a análise para o papel dos institutos de consultoria (em especial o Manhattan Institute) na difusão das noções de combate ao crime e das panacéias no estilo estadunidense na América Latina como um elemento da circulação internacional dos pacotes de política pró-mercado que alimentam a gerência punitiva da pobreza. O artigo elabora e revê o modelo original do nexo entre neoliberalismo e penalidade punitiva, levando a análise da montagem do Estado na era da insegurança social, desenvolvida no livro Punindo os pobres

Recognising Desire: A psychosocial approach to understanding education policy implementation and effect

It is argued that in order to understand the ways in which teachers experience their work - including the idiosyncratic ways in which they respond to and implement mandated education policy - it is necessary to take account both of sociological and of psychological issues. The paper draws on original research with practising and beginning teachers, and on theories of social and psychic induction, to illustrate the potential benefits of this bipartisan approach for both teachers and researchers. Recognising the significance of (but somewhat arbitrary distinction between) structure and agency in teachers’ practical and ideological positionings, it is suggested that teachers’ responses to local and central policy changes are governed by a mix of pragmatism, social determinism and often hidden desires. It is the often underacknowledged strength of desire that may tip teachers into accepting and implementing policies with which they are not ideologically comfortable