Structures d’opportunités et chances de vie

Abstract

Zusammenfassung: der beitrag diskutiert genese, bedeutungsgehalt und theoretischen Kontext des Merton'schen Konzepts der Opportunitätsstruktur und des von ihm bei Weber entliehenen Konzepts der Lebenschancen. Die These lautet, dass beide Konzepte konflikttheoretisch interpretiert werden müssen, damit sie ihr volles analytisches und erklärendes Potenzial zur Analyse zentraler sozialer Konflikte entfalten können. Es wird davon ausgegangen, dass beide Konzepte in ihrem Bedeutungsgehalt konvergieren, ein konflikttheoretisch inspiriertes Verständnis aber unterschiedliche theoretische Strategien erfordert. Während die Opportunitätsstrukturen jenseits des Merton'schen Verständnisses reinterpretiert werden müssen, um verstehen zu können, dass das Handeln sozialer Akteure die Optionen anderer beschränken kann, ist für die Lebenschancen ein Zurück zu Max Webers ursprünglicher Idee angezeigt, um der bedeutung sozialer Schließung als sozialen Mechanismus einer Auseinandersetzung um knappe Güter nachgehen zu können. Abstract:The article discusses the development, meaning and theoretical context of both Robert Merton's concept of "opportunity structure" and the concept of "life-chances" that he took up from Max Weber. In order to analyze crucial social conflicts, I argue that both concepts should follow along the lines of conflict theory. While they converge in terms of meaning, we need different theoretical strategies to make their analytical and explanatory power explicit. First, a reinterpretation of the concept of opportunity structure shows that social actors might reduce others' access to options while realizing their own aims; second, life-chances should be put again in a Weberian perspective for two reasons. On the one hand Weber already conceptualizes them in the context of social struggles, on the other hand he shows that the mechanism of social closure helps to understand how people exclude others from life-chances by monopolizing resources.Résumé: Cet article discute la genèse, la signification et le contexte théorique du concept mertonien de structure d'opportunités et du concept wébérien de chances de vie ( Lebenschancen) dont il s'inspire. La thèse défendue ici est que ces deux concepts doivent être interprétés à la lumière de la théorie du conflit pour révéler tout leur potentiel analytique et explicatif pour l'analyse de conflits sociaux majeurs. Nous partons de l'idée que ces deux concepts, qui sont la plupart du temps utilisés de manière intuitive, ont une signification convergente et nécessitent une compréhension inspirée par la théorie du conflit mais différentes stratégies théoriques. Tandis qu'il faut réinter-préter les structures d'opportunités au-delà de leur acception mertonienne pour comprendre que l'action des acteurs sociaux peut limiter les options d'autres acteurs, il convient pour le concept de chances de vie de revenir à l'idée originelle de Max Weber pour mettre en évidence la signification de la clôture sociale comme un mécanisme social de lutte pour des biens rares.

The open society and its life chances – from Karl Popper via Ralf Dahrendorf to a human geography of options and ligatures

“…Max Weber's life chances have been transposed according to very different meanings within sociological theory. Life chances in Max Weber are associated with Lebensführung, a concept that has been lost in the English translation and replaced by the concept of lifestyle -also widely spread in other non-Anglo-Saxon sociological literature (Mackert, 2010) -and it has been stripped of the reference to the action of choice, of self-realization and autonomy that connotes the notion of conduct of life. Consequently, life chances also lose their connotation, brought back to socially structured conditioning.…”

Household Wellbeing and Health in Two Types of Welfare Regimes - A Comparison of (Lower-) Middle Income Households in Chile and Costa Rica

“…They reveal the country's social solidarity pattern. They provide people and population groups with distinct opportunities for welfare (Mackert 2010;Esping-Andersen 1999;Barrientos 2009) and mediate health inequalities (Coburn 2004), the perception of insecurities (Pacek/Radcliff 2008;Williams et al 1999), and the opportunities to deal with the consequences of their position (Amacker et al 2013). Such arrangements provide a sense of what the "normal state of affairs" is (Rothstein 1998).…”

Precariousness and Quality of Life—a Qualitative Perspective on Quality of Life of Households in Precarious Prosperity in Switzerland and Spain

“…& The global financial crisis of 2008 changed the objective conditions; therewith it has the potential to impact on subjective wellbeing and QOL. Although everybody may be affected by such changes, specific positions within the social-inequality order are more strongly affected than others (Mackert 2010), in particular the population in precarious socio-economic conditions. Due to the strong and enduring impact of the crisis in Spain in contrast to the rather short impact of the crisis in Switzerland, we expect differences regarding the households' QOL in our samples in Lausanne and Pamplona.…”

“…We focus on how households in similar less advantaged socio-economic conditions in two distinct contexts (Lausanne and Pamplona) deal with their situation. We analyse how the macro-and micro-level interact by combining the socio-economic conditions, the opportunity structures (Mackert 2010), 2 the perception of the situation and the household strategies. The analyses are based on qualitative interviews carried out twice around the onset of the global financial crisis of 2008 with the same households.…”

“…Our research questions are: is there a relation, and if so, of what nature, between the objective situation (welfare regimes, economic situation of the countries, household situation), household strategies and 1 Following one of the ten definitions of the Rh Value Publishing (1989: 889), our understanding of the term mechanism for the purpose of our research question is: Bthe agency or means by which an effect is produced or a purpose is accomplished.B With this definition, we try to sidestep the vast and on-going debate regarding mechanisms in the social sciences, the natural sciences, and philosophy (for example Hedström and Ylikoski 2010;Hedström and Schwedberg 1998;McKay Illari and Williamson 2012). 2 See Mackert (2010) for an overview of the use of the term Bopportunity structures^. subjective wellbeing of households in precarious socio-economic positions?…”