Remapping the Portuguese social space: Towards a Bourdieusian class scheme

Abstract

Class analysis is intimately linked to the very development and consolidation of Portuguese sociology after the Carnation Revolution. Throughout the last decades, different research programmes assessed the nature and extent of class inequalities, drawing on Marxist, Weberian and functionalist paradigms. After a highly productive and intensely debated phase, a syncretic and compact approach prevailed. While this approach captures relevant features of class inequality, its current version overshadows critical aspects of difference and misrecognition in the social space in Portugal. From an analysis of occupational, qualifications and income data, we first propose a scheme of class fractions, which draws on the relational and multidimensional approach to class originally proposed by Bourdieu and recently taken up in European sociology. Using multiple correspondence analysis and nationally representative datasets, we demonstrate the validity of this tool for studying class and linkages to fields and its potential for replication in further statistical and qualitative research.

Food consumption, social class and taste in contemporary Portugal

“…I use a class scheme that maximises similarity in overall volume and capital composition. Relying on a systematic classification of occupational codes that vertically differentiates positions in terms of the overall capital volume, it further uses capital composition and ownership of means of production as repositioning criteria (for details, see Supplemental Appendix 1 and Ramos and Carvalho, 2021). The scheme distinguishes positions according to the relative weight of economic and cultural capital, similarly to Bourdieusian inspired-designs (Hansen et al, 2009; Atkinson, 2017; Prieur et al, 2008), and differently from Oesch’s (2006) ‘work logics’ approach.…”