scholarly journals Sport, Social Class, and Cultural Capital: Building on Bourdieu and His Critics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Stempel
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Sport Participation ◽  
Symbolic Boundaries ◽  
Comparative Analyses ◽  
Cultural Power ◽  
Capital Building ◽  
Key Aspects

This study sketches some key aspects of Bourdieu’s theory of cultural power and links these to the analysis of adult sport participation. It then summarizes Bourdieu’s central findings on sport and social class, using this to highlight aspects of his theory neglected by sport analysts and to focus on research that addresses these gaps. I then compare research on U.S. patterns of sport participation between 1965 and 1975 highlighting how these differ from Bourdieu’s (1984) 1967-1975 analysis of France. Building on this comparison, amendments to Bourdieu’s theory are explored, particularly focusing on omnivore theory and Lamont’s (1992, 2000) comparative analyses of aesthetic and moral symbolic boundaries.

scholarly journals Social Class and Changes in Australian Women's Affect and Alcohol Consumption During COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Lunnay ◽  
Barbara Toson ◽  
Carlene Wilson ◽  
Emma R. Miller ◽  
Samantha Beth Meyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Economic Capital ◽  
Consumption Patterns ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Time Points

Introduction: Before the pandemic, mid-life women in Australia were among the “heaviest” female alcohol consumers, giving rise to myriad preventable health risks. This paper uses an innovative model of social class within a sample of Australian women to describe changes in affective states and alcohol consumption patterns across two time points during COVID-19.Methods: Survey data were collected from Australian mid-life women (45–64 years) at two time points during COVID-19—May 2020 (N = 1,218) and July 2020 (N = 799). We used a multi-dimensional model for measuring social class across three domains—economic capital (income, property and assets), social capital (social contacts and occupational prestige of those known socially), and cultural capital (level of participation in various cultural activities). Latent class analysis allowed comparisons across social classes to changes in affective states and alcohol consumption patterns reported at the two time points using alcohol consumption patterns as measured by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test—Consumption (AUDIT-C) and its component items.Results: Seven social classes were constructed, characterized by variations in access to capital. Affective states during COVID-19 differed according to social class. Comparing between the survey time points, feeling fearful/anxious was higher in those with high economic and cultural capital and moderate social capital (“emerging affluent”). Increased depression was most prominent in the class characterized by the highest volumes of all forms of capital (“established affluent”). The social class characterized by the least capital (“working class”) reported increased prevalence of uncertainty, but less so for feeling fearful or anxious, or depressed. Women's alcohol consumption patterns changed across time during the pandemic. The “new middle” class—a group characterized by high social capital (but contacts with low prestige) and minimal economic capital—had increased AUDIT-C scores.Conclusion: Our data shows the pandemic impacted women's negative affective states, but not in uniform ways according to class. It may explain increases in alcohol consumption among women in the emerging affluent group who experienced increased feelings or fear and anxiety during the pandemic. This nuanced understanding of the vulnerabilities of sub-groups of women, in respect to negative affect and alcohol consumption can inform future pandemic policy responses designed to improve mental health and reduce the problematic use of alcohol. Designing pandemic responses segmented for specific audiences is also aided by our multi-dimensional analysis of social class, which uncovers intricate differences in affective states amongst sub-groups of mid-life women.

The Myth of Quality

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-117
Author(s):  
John Wei
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
The State ◽  
Queer Communities

This chapter deals with social inclusion and exclusion along the lines of cultural capital and social distinctions underlined by social class migration and mobilization. Drawing upon sociological analyses of various forms of human capital and academic inquiries into the issue of suzhi (“quality”), this chapter analyzes the ongoing social stratifications in China’s queer communities that have reproduced larger social inequalities. Through an investigation of an “upward” online queer community, it argues that the state-engineered discourse of suzhi has to some extent expired, but the lingering myth of “quality” continues to underline queer social distinctions and social interactions online and on the ground.

“I Need Help!” Social Class and Children’s Help-Seeking in Elementary School

2011 ◽  
Vol 76 (6) ◽  
pp. 862-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica McCrory Calarco
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Unequal Opportunities ◽  
Do So

What role do children play in education and stratification? Are they merely passive recipients of unequal opportunities that schools and parents create for them? Or do they actively shape their own opportunities? Through a longitudinal, ethnographic study of one socioeconomically diverse, public elementary school, I show that children’s social-class backgrounds affect when and how they seek help in the classroom. Compared to their working-class peers, middle-class children request more help from teachers and do so using different strategies. Rather than wait for assistance, they call out or approach teachers directly, even interrupting to make requests. In doing so, middle-class children receive more help from teachers, spend less time waiting, and are better able to complete assignments. By demonstrating these skills and strategies, middle-class children create their own advantages and contribute to inequalities in the classroom. These findings have implications for theories of cultural capital, stratification, and social reproduction.

scholarly journals “The Rivalry is Hot:” Shakespeare, Harry Potter, and the Magic of Fanfiction

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-13
Author(s):  
Jamie Hawley
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Ninth Grade ◽  
Harry Potter ◽  
Romeo And Juliet ◽  
High School English ◽  
Fan Communities ◽  
Cultural Power

Abstract: While most crossover fanfiction focuses on characters of different works interacting, fanfiction involving Shakespeare often involves characters from one work interacting with a particular Shakespeare text. By examining this phenomenon in three Harry Potter/Romeo and Juliet crossover fanfictions, it can be seen that Shakespeare’s language and cultural capital are being used in fan communities in order to develop new interpretations of both Harry Potter and Shakespeare’s work, especially when it comes to utilizing tropes like “star-crossed lovers” to develop relationships not present in Harry Potter’s text. As such, Shakespeare has taken on a role in these fanfictions that is magic-like, and the fanfictions speak to how Shakespeare, rather than becoming lowbrow popular culture, has instead ascended to a role in literature no author has reached before. Literature Review: Scholars that have studied Shakespeare in relation to fanfiction such as MK Finn and Michelle Yost have argued that Shakespeare’s existence and prevalence on fanfiction sites is a sign of his descendance from a literary pedestal to existence on the same level as other “lowbrow” popular culture, such as Star Trek and The Avengers. A 2013 survey of high school English teachers showed that 93% of ninth-grade classrooms studied Romeo and Juliet, which fueled some scholars in their belief that Shakespeare, by becoming more accessible, has lost some of his highbrow reputation. However, I argue that rather than this accessibility resulting in the loss of Shakespeare’s cultural power, this power has instead increased, and Shakespeare has taken on a role in culture unseen by any other author, and this can be seen most clearly in his impact on fanfiction and his popularization of tropes like “star-crossed lovers,” which have moved beyond an existence in Shakespeare’s plays and have now been used as an interpretive lens in their own right.

scholarly journals Class Diversity and Youth Volunteering in the United Kingdom

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 95S-113S ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Dean
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Young People ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Diverse Populations ◽  
Widening Access ◽  
The United Kingdom

This article utilizes Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of habitus and cultural capital to offer some explanation as to why there is a lack of class diversity in formal volunteering in the United Kingdom. Recent studies have shown that participation in volunteering is heavily dependent on social class revolving around a highly committed middle-class “civic core” of volunteers. This article draws on original qualitative research to argue that the delivery of recent youth volunteering policies has unintentionally reinforced participation within this group, rather than widening access to diverse populations including working-class young people. Drawing on interviews with volunteer recruiters, it is shown that the pressure to meet targets forces workers to recruit middle-class young people whose habitus allows them to fit instantly into volunteering projects. Furthermore, workers perceive working-class young people as recalcitrant to volunteering, thereby reinforcing any inhabited resistance, and impeding access to the benefits of volunteering.

1 “The circle in which you move”

2021 ◽  
pp. 19-34
Author(s):  
Candace Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Social Diversity ◽  
Enslaved Women ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
Musical Practices

The use of music as a sign of prestige extended across a wide spectrum, from enslaved women of color to the white daughters of affluent planters, and Part 1 reveals this social diversity by demonstrating how women employed binder’s volumes, etiquette guides, and other signs of cultural capital in the parlor to position themselves within a particular social class. Although it includes the historical actors who confirm currently-held views about social class and music in this period (the white middle-class), it juxtaposes these with examples across race and occupationally-defined status (barbers, farmers, mechanics, and planters) to bring to the fore a fuller view of women’s musical practices.

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