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The article explores the promotion and reception of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Arab world, taking Syria and Dubai as "most different" case studies. It observes that government-connected organizations have taken the lead in promoting CSR but are facing difficulties in rooting the concept beyond the ranks of crony capitalists. It argues that businessmen remain attached to an Islamic framework of social responsibility that contrasts with CSR as currently promoted. Extracting key themes in the businessmen's approach and comparing them with the UN Global Compact the article proposes an ideal-typical comparison of what it calls the Zakat and the CSR models. It discusses their relative utility as symbolic resource for the different actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the symbolic elite distinction of the Franco-Mauritians' white skin colour, as a contribution to literature on symbols of elite distinction. The case study is set to analyse how Franco-Mauritians' white skin colour works as a sign of elite distinction in addition to cultural differences between them and other Mauritians - which are influenced by labour division and reinforced by the structure of Mauritian society. The article underlines the intricacy of physical appearance in the transition from the colonial period (ending in 1968) to independence. It also shows how such embodied signs are persistent and ambiguous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper arises from a study examining cultural participation, knowledge and taste across the British population. The study includes in-depth interviews with a small number of individuals occupying prestigious positions in British business, politics and administration. A managerial elite, they exhibit a significant degree of homogeneity of cultural attachment and invest heavily in participation in many cultural activities. Their pattern of cultural consumption is described in terms of three principles: plenitude, proficiency and capability. This paper focuses on a number of mechanisms of acculturation, which are identified and illustrated. Differences associated with social trajectory are emphasised. The everyday routine nature of intensive and selective cultural consumption for this section of the population is noted and it is shown how culture is embedded in social life through social connections. Implications for the status and changing character of legitimate culture are considered, leading to reflections on the demise of the British 'Establishment' and the changing role of culture in elite formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pierre Bourdieu has given a brief but fierce critique of the concept of 'profession' that calls for a more reflexive analysis of the professions and in fact suggests not using the concept at all. In this contribution, we explicate the gist of that critique and argue it is possible to analyze it in a Bourdieusian fashion. We regard professionalism as a form of symbolic capital, the substance of which is constantly at stake in power-driven contexts, both internally and externally. Professional fields are embedded in objective relations with other fields in what Bourdieu describes as a general field of power. Within each professional field, the legitimate substance of what it means to act in a 'professional way' is constantly at stake. In turn, across various professional fields, within what Bourdieu describes as a larger field of power, the very idea or 'formal content' of 'professionalism' is subject to struggle and (re)negotiation. This power-centered view emphasizes professionalism is a scarce symbolic resource, an object of a process of consecration and a source of legitimate forms of acting and interpreting. It thereby de-essentializes talk of professions and professionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]