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This paper is organized in three stages. In the first part, I outline the evolution of the notion of altruism with its critical dimension of political economy by following the intellectual sequence from Auguste Comte to Pierre Bourdieu, through Emile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss. In the second, I consider the forms of transaction to which these sociologists report altruism and its derivatives. In the last section, I examine recent developments on altruism as a result of developments on performativity on the one hand and market design on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agency is a conceptual problem for youth studies. While the term is used in many analyses of young people's lives, this paper argues that the nature and conceptual meaning of agency remain ambiguous: agency is a ‘black box’ which while fundamental to youth sociology remains unpacked. Ontological and epistemological confusion about the concept means that appeals to agency in contemporary youth sociology beg the very questions they claim to answer. Nevertheless, the concept has become central to the conceptual and political basis of youth research, coming to stand for practices that are ‘bounded’ by structures and resist existing states of affairs. This limits the explanatory power of theoretical frameworks in youth studies, and does not serve the ethical commitments of a politically engaged discipline. Identifying conceptual and normative problems raised by the way agency is deployed, this paper argues that a conceptually powerful and politically engaged youth sociology must move beyond the problem of agency as it stands, and incorporates theoretical perspectives on youth subjectivities and social action that indicate possibilities for how this might take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2009 Woodman has recently challenged youth sociologists concerned with inequality to evolve from what he describes as a middling orthodoxy that misrepresents the work of Ulrich Beck in an effort to emphasise the continuing relevance of class. In 2010 Roberts forcefully responds to Woodman, arguing that Beck's own words and empirical evidence contradict his argument. Woodman responds to Roberts, reasserting his position and asks for the debate to move beyond mere 'quote wars'. This paper engages with this debate, taking Woodman's challenge seriously while maintaining that Beck's jettison of class is problematic, and that the concept of class itself is still vital. The paper concludes with suggestions as to what youth sociologists concerned with socio-economic inequality might want to focus upon in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework for exploring the ways in which class and gender interact in occupational fields. In recent years, very little research has been specifically concerned with the relationship between gender and class. Much of the literature which grapples with the question of how gender and class interact contains theoretical limitations which appear to stem from a reliance on categorical theories of both class and gender. In this paper it is proposed that, when used in conjunction, the approaches of Bourdieu and Butler provide a framework for exploring class and gender in terms of embodied practice. In order to illustrate the possibilities enabled by 'appropriating Bourdieu and adding Butler', the paper suggests ways in which this conceptual framework makes possible the examination of the complex relations between gender and class within one particular area of 'women's work': the field of nursing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health in Western society has become viewed as an achievement: something people are supposed to work at to enhance their quality of life or risk chronic illness and premature death. This is evident in the research documenting the close connection between chronic illnesses and health lifestyles. Almost all of this research is based on Western populations and much of it treats health behaviour and lifestyles as matters of individual choice or agency. While agency is important, structural conditions can 'act back' on individuals to configure their lifestyles in particular ways. The focus of this paper is to apply a new theoretical model to an Asian context. This model features a convergence between agency and structure and is supported by studies in Western countries. If the model is to have global relevance, it needs to be representative of health lifestyles in Asia as well. Unfortunately, there very few relevant studies available in Asia. Consequently, the intent of this paper is to not only present an initial theoretical framework for such studies, but also to call attention to the need for research in Asia on this topic. Everyone has a health lifestyle and Asians are no exception, as their lifestyles undoubtedly play a decisive role in determining health in the Pacific region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a particular understanding of Bourdieu's social theory and the place of language within it, in response to Susen's depiction of these matters in his “Bourdieusian reflections on language: Unavoidable conditions of the real speech situation”. Bourdieu's understanding of language is argued to be overly derivative and too dependent upon conventional assumptions of late twentieth-century thought. Conversely, allegations of “determinism” in Bourdieu's social theory are rebutted as being too often glib and unquestioningly rooted in liberal assumptions about human “creativity”. It is argued that Bourdieu's social theory could in fact be construed of as not being determinist enough, an appraisal hardly ever entertained by social theorists today. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper argues that Simon Susen’s “Bourdieusian reflections on language: Unavoidable conditions of the real speech situation” does not sufficiently acknowledge that Bourdieu’s work is always “conjunctural”, a consequence of his “position-taking” as an individual and intellectual. It examines in detail the historical context between 1972 and 1982 of most of Bourdieu’s texts considered a-historically by Susen. It suggests that Susen’s analysis wrongly attempts to situate Bourdieu as a philosopher of language, rather than as a socio-linguist. Although he differentiates Bourdieu from Habermas in showing that Bourdieu emphasizes the social context of linguistic exchanges, Susen does not follow Bourdieu in applying this contextualization to his own practice, with the result that he strangely approves of Bourdieu almost in terms established by Habermas, rather than in the terms set by Bourdieu himself. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Postgraduate physician assistant (PA) programs designed to train individuals for the workplace have existed since the advent of the profession itself. These residency programs continue to grow in number despite the lack of outcome data supporting improvements in PA learning, effects on career development, or improved patient care. Leadership bodies of the PA profession in the US have been at odds regarding the meaning and ramification of postgraduate programs on specialty credentialing, accreditation standards, insurance reimbursement, and employment. Using Bourdieu's cultural conflict theory as a framework, we analyze the issues confronting postgraduate PA training programs. Our paper discusses implications related to shifts in power amongst the different stakeholders concluding that, although formal postgraduate PA training can be beneficial to both the PA and the medicine, considerations related to underlying agendas need attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper asserts that the religious assumptions of Christian academies need to be fully examined in relation to any analysis of their cultural practices, impact or policy implications. It proposes that Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, cultural capital and symbolic power can be broadened out from their traditional use in accounting for social positioning in order to explore the interaction of religious faith and institutional culture. The emergent analytical framework outlined relies on series of theoretical tools drawn from Bourdieu whose social theory and concepts are already employed extensively in sociology of education research and studies of religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]