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This paper maps the global dimension of higher education and associated research, including the differentiation of national systems and institutions, while reflecting critically on theoretical tools for working this terrain. Arguably the most sustained theorisation of higher education is by Bourdieu: the paper explores the relevance and limits of Bourdieu's notions of field of power, agency, positioned and position-taking; drawing on Gramsci's notion of hegemony in explaining the dominant role played by universities from the United States. Noting there is greater ontological openness in global than national educational settings, and that Bourdieu's reading of structure/agency becomes trapped on the structure side, the paper discusses Sen on self-determining identity and Appadurai on global imagining, flows and 'scapes'. The dynamics of Bourdieu's competitive field of higher education continue to play out globally, but located within a larger and more disjunctive relational setting, and a setting that is less closed, than he suggests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a research project that uses Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and cultural and social capital to penetrate how middle-class parents exercise influence and form positive relationships at the neighbourhood public school that serves various ethno-cultural groups of students. One group of white, economically privileged students have populated the school since its founding; the others are new, immigrant, and diverse in ethnicity, race, and immigrant status. The parents of the former group of children enjoy active involvement in the school and trusting relationships with teachers that involves their differentiation from and exclusion of the new immigrant group. While the paper affirms the importance of social class differences in parent involvement, it integrates additional dimensions of immigration status and ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bradley Review of Australian Higher Education provided a timely reminder of the dismal performance of the nation and its higher education system in terms of the proportional representation of certain groups of Australians within the university student population. While the Australian Government has taken on the challenge of creating more university places for people from low socioeconomic status backgrounds, this article makes the case for creating spaces in higher education for marginalised Australians. Specifically, we argue that the most strategic place to begin this is with the pedagogic work of higher education, because of its positioning as a central message system in education. And it is from the centre that the greatest pedagogic authority is derived. In this paper we conceive of the pedagogic work involved in terms of belief, design and action. From these constitutive elements are derived three principles on which to build a socially inclusive pedagogy and to open up spaces for currently marginalised groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbolic consumption is assessed as an evolution of previously identified conspicuous consumption, after this has undergone a "de-materialization" that is socially, as much as ecologically, driven. As Veblen observed, the shift of wealth towards new forms of physical and financial capital with industrialization compels traditional wealth-holders to redefine privilege in terms of cultural capital. Accompanying social changes enable them to do so. The limited reproducibility of items consumed for their symbolic value, and slow transmissibility of the means of symbolic consumption, force holders of new wealth to compete for status on terms set by the established leisure class. Conspicuity shifts from quantity to quality, from the appropriation of materially valued products to the appreciation of culturally valued products. This paper examines some key implications of a shift from "waste" to "taste" in conspicuous consumption for the social and natural environment, and for economic development. In particular, it explores the possibility of branded products representing the mass production of symbolic goods in high-income economies; and the brand premium's potentially beneficial consequences for global income distribution, when branded production relocates to lower-income economies in conditions of free trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate crisis and austerity in the context of the European Union (EU) by appealing to the work of Pierre Bourdieu. Evidence suggests that after the recent US and Eurozone economic crises, fiscal consolidation intensified the deterioration of socio-economic conditions in Europe. We turn to analyses versed in the Bourdieusian tradition to explain crises and austerity in relation to the domination of the financial field and the ascendancy of neoliberal policies, processes of symbolic violence and misrecognition, and struggles for symbolic power. We then apply this framework to assess the EU economic governance system and the rhetoric imposed on Member States and social partners to justify austerity. Finally, we discuss ways to confront these conditions by presenting Bourdieu's conception of the 'collective intellectual', who collaborates with other social groups in order to uncover the power relations and inequalities generated by neoliberal policies and to promote alternative economic policies for social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay focuses on the conceptual relationship between Veblen and Bourdieu given that several important aspects of their works remain less widely discussed, or even inadequately explored in a comparative manner. First, the two scholars have laid the foundations of a socioeconomic perspective. Evolution and change are the fundamental vehicles of economic life in their respective works. In such a framework, a central point of their analyses is the interdependence between the cultural, social, and economic spheres. Furthermore, an economic sociology is built around the concept of habit formation. Systemic views expressed, focus on the various institutions and other aspects of cultural, social and economic life, where habits are formed and cover diverse fields and notions such as Rationality, Individualism, Institutions, Classes, Power, Struggle, Culture, and even Capitalism. For instance, both acknowledged that society is a field for the exercise of power, where antagonisms emerge giving way to negotiation, struggle, and compromise. Also, both recognized that research and knowledge development is a collective social process. However, from a methodological perspective, their main emphasis is on the emerging dynamic evolution of habits, which is perceived as the interruption of already existing social norms and the conflict between routine and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until recently, risk-taking in investment decisions has been explained by cognitive biases and emotional urges. I would like to propose an alternative explanation, based on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, who links cultural capital to risk-taking. His concept of cultural capital has a very broad meaning, as it encompasses technical skills, aesthetic preferences, verbal facility, general cultural awareness, educational credentials, and artistic competencies. On theoretical grounds, one can assume that a high level of cultural capital enables the taming of uncertainty and allows for temporal horizons that cover longer terms. I test this hypothesis by conducting and analyzing a survey of 307 entrepreneurs. I define risk-taking in two ways: (i) in a somewhat mainstream way, on the basis of expected utility, and (ii) in a heterodox way, in a qualitative, context-dependent setting. I find that, in both cases, there seems to be a link between cultural capital and risk-taking. Furthermore, it seems to make financing issues more salient. I conclude by opening a discussion about the heterogeneity of entrepreneurs and their animal spirits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is concerned with the theoretical constructs of Bourdieu and their contribution to understanding the reproduction of social and cultural inequalities in schooling. While Bourdieu has been criticised for his reproductive emphasis, this article proposes that there is transformative potential in his theoretical constructs and that these suggest possibilities for schools and teachers to improve the educational outcomes of marginalised students. The article draws together three areas of contribution to this theme of transformation; beginning by characterising habitus as constituted by reproductive and transformative traits and considering the possibilities for the restructuring of students' habitus. This is followed by a discussion of cultural capital and the way that teachers can draw upon a variety of cultural capitals to act as agents of transformation rather than reproduction. The article concludes by considering the necessity of a transformation of the field to improve the educational outcomes of marginalised students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Post Keynesian Economics, theorists have sought an alternative to neoclassical choice theory by turning to Maslow's hierarchy of needs (Pasinetti 1981, Lavoie 1992). Instead of each individual surveying a complete choice set, individuals prioritize (basic) physiological needs, moving with increasing incomes to satisfy safety and social needs, through to the higher needs associated with self-actualization. This framework provides a theoretical foundation for the Engel curve, since as incomes increase consumers become satiated when particular needs are satisfied. As an alternative to the neoclassical preoccupation with prices and substitution, a Post Keynesian theory of consumption has been formulated with income effects as the cornerstone. The main problem with Maslow's approach is that individual needs are innate, so that questions of social interaction and culture are seriously downgraded. In this article, the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu is offered as an alternative to the Maslow approach, providing the basis for a social critique of consumerism and an alternative evolutionary theory of consumption. In this approach, the structure of the social hierarchy both constrains the consumption of lower social strata and leads to subtle, less conspicuous consumption patterns at the top of the social hierarchy: a scenario that could provide a social foundation to the Engel curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]