Theory and Jargon

Symbolic Violence (Pierre Bourdieu)

the imposition on subordinated groups by the dominant class of an ideology that legitmates and naturalizes the status quo

Structural Violence (Johan Galtung)

occurs through economically, politically, or culturally driven processes that work together in such a way as to limit victims from achieving full quality of life

Dirt (Mary Douglas)

Dirt is simply matter out of place; it is not inherently impure, but rather a relative concept indicating a violation of systematic order.

Dirt is subjective, representing things that do not fit into established social classifications, which causes anxiety and triggers a drive to reorder the environment.

Cultural Capital & Habitus (Pierre Bourdieu)

Educational or intellectual assets that can promote a person’s social mobility.

Habitus = historically accreted bodily comportments

Equality of Feeling (Alexis de Toqueville)

Ideology of equality and merit that pervades American institutions often masking structural inequality.

Power and Resistance (Michel Foucault)

Wherever there is power, there is resistance. Often it is found at an interpersonal level.

In Search of Respect

Commodificatrion (Karl Marx)

The transformation of things that are not normally regarded as commodities into commodities. In modern society, exchange relationships are increasingly commodified (which may make them less social.)

Flows and Scapes (Arjun Appadurai)

“This extended terminological discussion of the five terms I have coined sets the basis for a tentative formulation about the conditions under which current global flows occur: they occur in and through the growing disjunctures between ethnoscapes, technoscapes, finanscapes, mediascapes and ideoscapes.”

Conjugated Oppression (Philippe Bourgoise)

how class and ethnicity combine to produce oppression that differs experientially and materially from the oppression produced by class and ethnicity alone.

In Search of Respect

Concepts

Assimilation--the absorption of an individual or minority group of people into another society or group. This is achieved by learning and adopting the cultural traditions of the society to which assimilation occurs.

bureaucracy --an administrative system that divides governing tasks into specific categories carried out by different individuals and/or departments.

conspicuous consumption/emulation (Thorstein Veblen)

Lavish spending on goods and services as a way of displaying wealth and achieving status.  Emulation is the effort to equal or surpass another in the status associated with wealth.