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Narrative, ethnography and class inequality
DOI link for Narrative, ethnography and class inequality
Narrative, ethnography and class inequality book
Narrative, ethnography and class inequality
DOI link for Narrative, ethnography and class inequality
Narrative, ethnography and class inequality book
ABSTRACT
Bourdieu's theory of practice has been extremely important in academic work that critiques social class hierarchies, as have critiques produced by academics from working-class backgrounds. Using Bourdieu's theoretical tools to explain injustice, which is based on capital movements through social space, provides a bridge for the dialectical relationship of culture and the economy. During the early years of his academic career, Bourdieu spent many years as an ethnographer, living with and researching the Kabyle community in Algeria. Bourdieu is inclined to understand the valued capital within a society as inherently belonging to the middle class, legitimated through middle-class values and the economic sphere. In Distinction, Bourdieu identifies four different types of capital, and it is the accumulation of these capitals that determines the inclusion or exclusion from society: cultural, economic, social and symbolic. These capitals are capable of giving strength, power and profit to their owner. Economic capital includes income, wealth, financial inheritance and monetary assets.