Social class, symbolic domination, and Angst: The example of the Norwegian social space

Abstract

Today, ‘fear’ in its diverse facets is a topic growing in relevance in the media discourse. However, apart from analyses of individual psychic pathologies or general macro-sociological diagnoses, it has been largely neglected in (empirical) social sciences. The increasingly influential works of Bourdieu are no exception here, even though the concept of habitus inherently transcends positive interests such as lifestyle preferences, as analyzed in La Distinction. This becomes explicitly clear in his late works, above all in La Misère du monde, where the dispositions of agents are described in terms of the fears and worries associated with their positions in the social space and societal transformation processes. In this article the authors show that concerns, fear, and worries are constitutive characteristics of the habitus by investigating the structure of ‘fear manifestations’ in relation to the social space. Following Bourdieu’s conception, they construct a model of the Norwegian social space by applying Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) to survey data. They then investigate how questions on fears and concerns are related to the capital structure of the space. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings and a reflection of their implications for a sociology of symbolic domination.

City's social space and citizens' living space

“…With the strengthening of leisure domestication trend, the spectrum of amateur collecting is expanding. The living environment becomes a field of creative activity [12]. The modern style of urban life is changing.…”

Espacio social y clases sociales en Posadas, Argentina

“…Las síntesis estadísticas de las clases son una abstracción temporal de los resultados de enfrentamientos, alianzas, desacuerdos y acuerdos históricos entre grupos (Bourdieu, 1988;Schmitz, Flemmen y Rosenlund, 2018); el espacio social sintetiza lo que los miembros activos de los hogares pudieron acumular hasta el momento, en términos de ingresos económicos, niveles educativos, ocupaciones, propiedad de vivienda y terrenos, edad, estado civil, y así. No obstante, las condiciones materiales, sentidos culturales y límites de las clases son parte de juegos multipolares -en sentido eliasiano (Elias, 1999)-; es decir, de entramados de dependencias competitivas que reúnen a múltiples grupos.…”

“…La construcción del espacio social y la identificación de clases sociales es una contribución importante a los estudios urbanos por parte de Bourdieu (1988) e investigadores afines. Retomar esta contribución implica analizar en una primera etapa estructuralista, el volumen global y la composición del capital (Schmitz, Flemmen y Rosenlund, 2018;Hjellbrekke et al, 2007;Borges Pereira, 2018). Siguiendo este enfoque, el objetivo es un análisis exploratorio de las desigualdades sociales en la ciudad de Posadas, Argentina, a partir de la Encuesta Permanente de Hogares (en adelante EPH) del tercer trimestre de 2017.…”

The Class Structure of Capitalist Societies

“…The neglect is not total, however. In select corners of Europe there have been some determined efforts to chart social spaces using appropriates methods, with Prieur et al (2008) and Rosenlund (2009Rosenlund ( , 2015 leading the way (see also Schmitz et al, 2017;Flemmen et al, , 2019. In both cases, dealing with Denmark and Norway respectively, Bourdieu's model was found to be in full effect, despite obvious political-cultural differences with France and the considerable time lag: volume of capital is certainly the primary dimension of social difference, but capital composition is also a crucial factor distinguishing places in the misrecognition order.…”