Bourdieu’s Theorization of Social Capital in the Analysis of South-East European Societies

Mirko Petrić; Inga Tomić-Koludrović

doi:10.2298/FID2104538P

Authors

Mirko Petrić Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar – Center Split; Senior Lecturer, University of Zadar, Department of Sociology
Inga Tomić-Koludrović Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar – Center Split

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2298/FID2104538P

Keywords:

Bourdieu, social capital, post-socialism, hybrid societies, South-East Europe

Abstract

This article discusses the significance of social capital in Bourdieu-inspired analyses of contemporary South-East European societies. We first recapitulate Bourdieu’s theorization of social capital, emphasizing that it allows different operationalizations expressly because of its rather abstract theoretical character. Following that, we explain what is meant by “South- East European societies” and that their inequality-generating mechanisms are largely based on social closure. In the central part of the article, we comment on some attempts at operationalization of social capital in the SEE region. While we also discuss two cases of eclectically mixing Lin’s operationalization with Bourdieusian concepts, at the center of our attention is the elaboration of Bourdieu’s theorization of social capital put forward by the Serbian sociologist Predrag Cvetičanin. The relevance of his concepts of “social capital of solidarity” and “social capital of informal connections” for the study of class relations in post-socialist societies in South-East Europe highlights the advantages of a consistent application of the Bourdieusian framework in a contemporary (post-Bourdieusian) context.

References

Adam, Frane; Rončević, Borut (2003), “Social Capital. Recent Debates and Trends”, Social Science Information 42 (2): 155–183.

Allcock, John (2000), Explaining Yugoslavia, London: Hurst.

Atkinson, Will (2020), Bourdieu and After: A Guide to Relational Phenomenology, London: Routledge.

Bechev, Dimitar (2006), “Constructing South East Europe: The Politics of Regional Identity in the Balkans”, RAMSES Working Paper 1/06, European Studies Centre/University of Oxford (March 2006).

Bernath, Mathias (1973), „Südosteuropäische Geschichte als gesonderte Disziplin“, Forschungen zur osteuropäischen Geschichte 20: 135–144.

Blau, Peter M.; Duncan, Otis Dudley (1967), The American Occupational Structure, New York: Wiley.

Bohle, Dorothee; Greskovits, Béla (2012), Capitalist Diversity on Europe’s Periphery, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Bourdieu, Pierre (1972), Esquisse d’une théorie de la pratique, précédé de trois études d’ethnologie Kabyle, Genève: Droz.

—. [1972]), Outline of a Theory of Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

—. (1977b), “Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction”, in Jerome Karabel; Halsey, A. H. (eds.), Power and Ideology in Education, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 487–511.

—. (1979), La Distinction. Critique sociale du jugement, Paris: Minuit.

Bourdieu, Pierre (1980), “Le capital social, notes provisoires”, Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales 31: 2–3.

—. (1983). „Ökonomisches Kapital, kulturelles Kapital, soziales Kapital“, in Reinhard Kreckel (ed.), Soziale Ungleichheiten. Soziale Welt, Sonderband 2, Göttingen: Schwartz, pp. 183–198.

—. (1985), “Social Space and the Genesis of Groups”, Theory and Society, 14 (6): 723–744.

—. (1984 [1979]), Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

—. (1986), “The Forms of Capital”, in John G. Richardson (ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, New York: Greenwood Press, pp. 241–258.

—. (1987), “What Makes a Social Class? On the Theoretical and Practical Existence of Groups”, Berkeley Journal of Sociology, 32: 1–18.

—. (1998a [1994]), “Appendix: The ‘Soviet’ Variant and Political Capital”, in Practical Reason. On the Theory of Action, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 14–18.

—. (1998b [1994]), “Appendix: Social Field and Space of Power”, in Practical Reason. On the Theory of Action, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 31–34.

Bourdieu, Pierre; Wacquant, Loïc J. D. (1992), An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Brunnbauer, Ulf (2007), ‚Die sozialistische Lebensweise‘: Ideologie, Gesellschaft, Familie und Politik in Bulgarien (1944-1989), Wien-Köln-Weimar: Bohlau.

Buchanan, Donna A. (1999), “Review: G.W. Creed’s Domesticating Revolution: From Socialist Reform to Ambivalent Transition in a Bulgarian Village”, Balkanistica 12: 121–125.

Coleman, James S. (1988), “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital”, American Journal of Sociology 94: 95–120.

—. (1990), Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Creed, Gerald W. (1998), Domesticating Revolution: From Socialist Reform to Ambivalent Transition in a Bulgarian Village, University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press.

Crossley, Nick (20142), “Social Class”, in Michael Grenfell (ed.), Pierre Bourdieu. Key Concepts, London: Routledge, pp. 85–97.

Cvetičanin, Predrag (1997), “Paralelno društvo” [A parallel society], in Jovan Živković (ed.), Demontaža despotske vlasti [Taking apart a despotic government], Niš: Narodne Novine, pp. 71–77.

—. (2001), “Korupcija kao način života” [Corruption as a way of life], in Nenad Popović (ed.), Građanin u lokalnoj samoupravi. [Citizen in local self-government], Niš: OGI, pp. 98–104.

—. (2007), Cultural Needs, Habits and Taste of Citizens of Serbia and Macedonia. Niš: OGI.

Cvetičanin, Predrag; Popescu, Mihaela (2009), “Struggles on Symbolic Boundaries”, paper presented at the SCUD Network Seminar: Cultural Legitimacy and Class Domination; Manchester, UK (November 19, 2009).

Cvetičanin, Predrag; Popescu, Mihaela (2011), “The Art of Making Classes in Serbia: Another Particular Case of the Possible”, Poetics 39: 444–468.

Cvetičanin, Predrag; Nedeljković, Jasmina; Krstić, Nemanja (2012a), “Social Space in Serbia”, in Predrag Cvetičanin (ed.), Social and Cultural Capital in Serbia, Niš: Centre for Empirical Cultural Studies of South-East Europe, pp. 53–69.

Cvetičanin, Predrag; Nedeljković, Jasmina; Krstić, Nemanja (2012b), “The Cultural Map of Serbia or The Reconstruction of the Field of Cultural Practices in Serbia”, in Predrag Cvetičanin (ed.), Social and Cultural Capital in Serbia, Niš: Centre for Empirical Cultural Studies of South-East Europe, pp. 71–96.

Cvetičanin, Predrag; Nedeljković, Jasmina; Krstić, Nemanja (2012c), “Constructing a Cultural Map of Serbia”, in Predrag Cvetičanin; Ana Birešev (eds.), Social and Cultural Capital in Western Balkan Societies, Belgrade: Centre for Empirical Cultural Studies of South-East Europe, The Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory of the University of Belgrade, pp. 181–209.

Cvetičanin, Predrag; Popovikj, Misha; Nedeljković, Jasmina (2015), in Predrag Cvetičanin; Ilina Mangova; Nenad Markovikj (eds.) (2015), “Who Likes This Change? Perception and Evaluation of Socio-economic Changes in Western Balkans Societies”, A Life for Tomorrow: Social Transformations in South-East Europe, Skopje: Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis”, pp. 11–95.

Cvetičanin, Predrag; Popovikj, Misha; Jovanović, Miloš (2019), “Informality in the Western Balkans: A Culture, a Contextual Rational choice, or Both?”, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 19 (4): 585–604.

Cvetičanin, Predrag; Tomić-Koludrović, Inga; Petrić, Mirko; Zdravković, Željka; Leguina, Adrian (2021), “From Occupational to Existential Class: How to Analyze Class Structure in Hybrid Societies (The Case of Serbia)”, British Journal of Sociology 72 (4): 946–973.

Doolan, Karin; Tonković, Željka (2021), “Convergences and Divergences of a Bourdieusian and Occupation-based Approach to Social Class: Evidence from Croatia”, European Societies 23 (5): 590–621.

Erickson, Bonnie H. (1996), “Culture, Class, and Connections”, American Journal of Sociology 102 (1): 217–251.

Eyal, Gil; Szelényi, Iván; Townsley, Eleanor (1998), Making Capitalism Without Capitalists: Class Formation and Elite Struggles in Post-Communist Central Europe, London: Verso.

Field, John (2008), Social Capital. Second Edition, London: Routledge.

Jungbauer-Gans, Monika (2006), „Einleitende Betrachtungen zum Begriff ‘Sozialkapital’“, in Ernst Gehmacher, Sigrid Kroismayr, Josef Neumüller, Martina Schuster (eds.), Sozialkapital: Neue Zugänge zu gesellschaftlichen Kräften, Wien: Mandelbaum, pp. 17–43.

Kaser, Karl (1990), Südosteuropäische Geschichte und Geschichtswissenschaft: eine Einführung, Wien–Köln: Böhlau.

Kligman, Gail; Verdery, Katherine (2011), Peasants under Siege: The Collectivization of Romanian Agriculture, 1949-1962, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Krolo, Krešimir; Tonković, Željka; Marcelić, Sven (2019), “The Great Divide? Cultural Capital as a Predictor of Television Preferences Among Croatian Youth”, Poetics 80: Article 101400: 1-12.

Le Roux, Brigitte; Rouanet, Henry (2010). Multiple Correspondence Analysis, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Lin, Nan (1999), “Building a Network Theory of Social Capital”, Connections 22 (1): 28–51.

—. (2001), Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Marcelić, Sven; Tonković, Željka; Krolo, Krešimir (2021), “Banal Cosmopolitanism? Values and Cultural Repertoires of Youth in Adriatic Croatia”, Cultural Sociology, (OnlineFirst), available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17499755211027128 (viewed 30 October, 2021).

Müller, Hans-Peter (1992), Sozialstruktur und Lebensstile. Der neuere theoretische Diskurs über soziale Ungleichheit, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

—. (2014), Pierre Bourdieu: Eine systematische Einführung, Berlin: Suhrkamp.

Outhwaite, William (2007), “Bourdieu and Postcommunist Class Formation”, Sociological Research Online 12(6)10, available at: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/12/6/10.html (viewed 30 October, 2021).

Petrić, Mirko; Tomić-Koludrović, Inga; Zdravković, Željka; Cvetičanin, Predrag Leguina, Adrian (forthcoming), “Class in Contemporary Croatian Society: A Post-Bourdieusian Perspective”, Sociologija i prostor [2022, 60 (1)].

Robbins, Derek (2000), Bourdieu and Culture, London: Sage.

Song, Lijun; Frazier, Cleothia G.; Pettis, Philip J. (2018), “Do Networks’ Members Resources Generate Health Inequality? Social Capital Theory and Beyond”, in Sherman Folland; Eric Nauenberg (eds.), Elgar Companion to Social Capital and Health, Cheltenham, UK: Elgar, pp. 233–254.

Sundhaussen, Holm (2002), „Was ist Südosteuropa und warum beschäftigen wir uns (nicht) damit?“, Südosteuropa Mitteilungen 42 (5-6): 93–105.

Swartz, David (1997), Culture & Power. The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu, Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

Todorova, Maria (1997), Imagining the Balkans, New York: Oxford University Press.

Tomanović, Smiljka (2006), „Primenljivost Burdijeovog koncepta socijalnog kapitala na proučavanje porodica u Srbiji“ [The applicability of Bourdieu’s concept of social capital to studying the families in Serbia], in Miloš Nemanjić, Ivana Spasić (eds.), Nasleđe Pjera Burdijea. Pouke i nadahnuća [The heritage of Pierre Bourdieu: lessons and inspirations], Beograd: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju, Zavod za proučavanje kulturnog razvitka, pp. 111–122.

—. (2012), “Significance and Meaning of Expressive and Instrumental Social Capital for Young People from Different Social Strata”, in Predrag Cvetičanin, Ana Birešev (eds.), Social and Cultural Capital in Western Balkan Societies, Belgrade: Centre for Empirical Cultural Studies of South-East Europe, The Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory of the University of Belgrade, pp. 29–39.

Vidmar Horvat, Ksenija (2018), Periferna Evropa: tranzitologija in postkrizni diskurzi v jugovzhodni Evropi [Peripheral Europe: Peripheral Europe: transitology and post-critical discourses in Southeast Europe], Ljubljana: Filozofska fakulteta, Univerza v Ljubljani.

Weininger, Elliot B. (2002), “Class and Causation in Bourdieu”, in Jennifer M. Lehmann (ed.), Bringing Capitalism Back for Critique by Social Theory, Amsterdam: JAI, pp. 49–114.

—. (2005), “Foundations of Pierre Bourdieu’s Class Analysis”, in Eric Olin Wright (ed.), Approaches to Class Analysis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 82–118.

Whyte, David; Wiegratz, Jörg. (eds.) (2016), Neoliberalism and the Moral Economy of Fraud, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.