ABSTRACT
Pierre Bourdieu's work was concerned with the dynamics of power in society and the way power is transferred and social order maintained within, and across, generations. Bourdieu was concerned with the form of sociological work as well as its content. He sought to assess and reconcile the influences of external social structures and subjective experience on the individual. A great deal of research in sociology has been focused on patterns of health-related behavior and on differentials in health. Bourdieu's "arguments are wedded to an analysis of the inter-relationship between class, capital, taste and the body in the construction of lifestyles and the struggle for social distinction across the various social fields". People can know more and more about what is considered good institutional care at the end of life, but bad care is resistant to change. The lives of dying people were characterized by experiences of meaninglessness, isolation, powerlessness, and loss of control.
