Skip to main content

The Theory of Capital and Social Practice

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Homeless Youth of Pakistan

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Public Health ((BRIEFSPUBLIC))

Abstract

In this chapter, I provide a brief but comprehensive overview of Bourdieu’s theory of capital and social practice and how this has previously helped researchers to understand homelessness and survival sex. In doing so, I first deconstruct the concepts of social fields, habitus, and capital. The theory provides a relational view of social practice in that it helps to view agency and social structures reinforcing each other. This relational lens is of significant value when it comes to analysing the social disadvantage that homeless young people (HYP) experience.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Barker, J. D. (2012). Social capital, homeless young people and the family. Journal of Youth Studies, 15(6), 730–743.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker, J. D. (2013). Negative cultural capital and homeless young people. Journal of Youth Studies, 16(3), 358–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker, J. D. (2016). A habitus of instability: Youth homelessness and instability. Journal of Youth Studies, 19(5), 665–683.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1984 [1979]). Distinction: A social critique of the judgment of taste. Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology (pp. 241–258). Greenwood.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1989). Social space and symbolic power. Sociological Theory, 7(1), 14–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice (N. Richard, Trans.). Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1998). On television (P. P. Ferguson, Trans.). The New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. J. (1992). An invitation to reflexive sociology. University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourgois, P., & Schonberg, J. J. E. (2007). Intimate apartheid: Ethnic dimensions of habitus among homeless heroin injectors. Ethnography, 8(1), 7–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryant, J. (2018). Building inclusion, maintaining marginality: How social and health services act as capital for young substance users. Journal of Youth Studies, 21(7), 983–998.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, C. (2001). Social capital and health: Contextualising health promotion within local community networks. In S. Baron, J. Field, & T. Schuller (Eds.), Social capital: Critical perspectives (pp. 182–196). Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. The American Journal of Sociology, 94, S95–S120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collyer, F. M., Willis, K. F., Franklin, M., Harley, K., & Short, S. D. (2015). Healthcare choice: Bourdieu’s capital, habitus and field. Current Sociology, 63(5), 685–699.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • English, F. W., & Bolton, C. L. (2016). Bourdieu for educators: Policy and practice. SAGE Publications.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Field, J. (2008). Social capital. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, A. (2013). Street habitus: Gangs, territorialism and social change in Glasgow. Journal of Youth Studies, 16(8), 970–985.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, A. I. (2008). The social organization of desire: The sexual fields approach. Sociological Theory, 26(1), 25–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakim, C. (2010). Erotic capital. European Sociological Review, 26(5), 499–518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanifan, L. J. (1916). The rural school community center. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 67(1), 130–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lippman, S. A., Leslie, H. H., Neilands, T. B., Twine, R., Grignon, J. S., MacPhail, C., … Kahn, K. (2018). Context matters: Community social cohesion and health behaviors in two South African areas. Health and Place, 50, 98–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manton, K. (2008). Habitus. In M. Grenfell (Ed.), Pierre Bourdieu: Key concepts (pp. 49–65). Acumen Publishing Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickel, A. (2005). The habitus process: A biopsychosocial conception. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 35, 437–461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, R. D. (1993). The prosperous community. The American Prospect, 4(13), 35–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, J., Eime, R., & Westerbeek, H. (2019). Community sports clubs: Are they only about playing sport, or do they have broader health promotion and social responsibilities? Annals of Leisure Research, 22(2), 215–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandberg, S. (2008). Street capital, ethnicity and violence on the streets of Oslo. Theoretical Criminology, 12(2), 153–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shammas, V. L., & Sandberg, S. (2015). Habitus, capital, and conflict: Bringing Bourdieusian field theory to criminology. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 16(2), 195–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shim, J. K. (2010). Cultural health capital: A theoretical approach to understanding health care interactions and the dynamics of unequal treatment. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 51(1), 1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szreter, S., & Woolcock, M. (2004). Health by association? Social capital, social theory, and the political economy of public health. International Journal of Epidemiology, 33(4), 650–667.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomson, P. (2008). Field. In M. Grenfell (Ed.), Pierre Bourdieu: Key concepts (pp. 67–81). Acumen Publishing Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wacquant, L. J. (1998). Negative social capital: State breakdown and social destitution in America’s urban core. Netherlands Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 13(1), 25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wacquant, L. J. (2002). Scrutinizing the street: Poverty, morality, and the pitfalls of urban ethnography. American Journal of Sociology, 107(6), 1468–1532.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warr, D. J. (2005). Social networks in a ‘discredited’ neighbourhood. Journal of Sociology, 41(3), 285–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiltshire, G., & Stevinson, C. (2018). Exploring the role of social capital in community-based physical activity: Qualitative insights from parkrun. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 10(1), 47–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2017.1376347

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Noor, M.N. (2021). The Theory of Capital and Social Practice. In: Homeless Youth of Pakistan. SpringerBriefs in Public Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79305-0_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79305-0_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-79304-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-79305-0

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics