Fields and capitals

Constructing local life


Leena Alanen, Martti Siisiäinen (Toim.)
2011. 231 s. 27 e. Tilauskoodi: D098.

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Social transformations and globalization processes bring attention to the significance of locality. These changes have also caught the attention of social scientists, increasing their interest in studying locality and local communities. Fields and Capitals presents the results of an interdisciplinary research project in which a team of researchers, inspired by Pierre Bourdieu’s research programme, took up the challenge of studying one small locality in Finland. Bourdieu’s theory and some of his key concepts – field, capital, habitus – open up possibilities to describe local communities as a social field and a network of various local fields.

The authors of the book analyze the generation, distributions and transformations of economic, cultural and social capital in the locality. A range of local, interconnected fields are identified, and the ways in which various capitals are used and transformed by residents are analyzed, within different age groups and over the course of life.

Fields and Capitals provides a unique depiction of a small community in Central Finland. For the first time in Finland, Bourdieu’s sociological approach is applied in a broad-based analysis of locality and local capitals and fields.

ISBN 978-951-39-4421-6