Document Type : Tarviji
Author
Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences, Isfahan University, Isfahan, Iran
Abstract
Most of Pierre Bourdieu’s work describes struggles over symbolic
capital and hierarchies among the economic and cultural elite.
However, his theories and concepts are not exclusive to studies of
those with power. By using Bourdieu’s conceptualizations of social
space, capital and habitus, the article discusses the hierarchies and
struggles over symbolic capital at the bottom of societies. The
analysis is grounded in interviews and fieldwork with ethnic minority
youths on the streets of Oslo, Norway. Analysing the violence
among the young men, the article argues that marginalized ethnic
minorities and certain groups of refugees use particular strategies in
order to accumulate symbolic capital. They have embodied
experiences that can be transformed into forms of ‘street capital’
favourable in a violent street culture. Working empirically with the concept of street capital can include
insights from the economic structural determinist argument of Wacquant as
well as the more cultural and voluntaristic approaches of Newman,
Anderson and Duneier. Such a framework may even be seen as a compromise
in an otherwise heated and politicized debate.
Keywords
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