Class Boundaries in Europe. The Bourdieusian Approach in Perspective by Cédric Hugrée, Étienne Penissat, Alexis Spire and Johs. Hjellbrekke
Drawing inspiration from Pierre Bourdieu’s social space theory, this book provides an unprecedent overview of class relations, covering topics such as class polarisation, cultural reproduction, political orientations, and globalisation.
The book applies Bourdieusian social space approach to show how class boundaries have been maintained or transformed in different European countries. Based on quantiative data, it proposes a renewal of the analysis of distances, divides, and relations of domination between social classes, documenting objective and symbolic boundaries that form the basis of individuals’ living and working conditions in 11 European countries.
Focusing on transformations of wealth inequalities, education strategies, and European labour markets, the book examines the role of cultural, economic and social capital. It will be of interest to students and scholars across the social sciences, in particular to those studying social and wealth inequalities in a comparative perspective and Master’s students in European studies.
The book, published in 2022, is edited by Cédric Hugrée, Étienne Penissat, Alexis Spire and Johs. Hjellbrekke. Part of the introduction is reproduced below :
Thinking about class boundaries in Europe
In the 1980s and 1990s, many studies called into question the very concept of social class as a way of describing the evolution of social structures in Western countries, with some even announcing the death of social classes (Pakulski & Waters, 1995; Evans, 1999; Clark & Lipset, 2001). Thirty years later, the continuing increase in income and wealth inequalities has shifted the terms of the debate once again. It is true that individuals no longer automatically use the concept of social classes to orient themselves in social space, but it nonetheless
remains relevant for describing and thinking about the social and economic dynamics at work in Europe. The question of the distances that separate social groups has never been addressed explicitly, yet it is an underlying issue in a large number of comparative studies. This book is a contribution to the renewal of that issue. It offers a new panorama of the forms that class
boundaries take in European countries.
In their study of the sociology of social boundaries, Michèle Lamont and Virág Molnár (2002) draw a distinction between three types of approach: those that focus on the properties or
characteristics of social boundaries, those that analyse the mechanisms of their construction and justification, and those that question individual perceptions of social boundaries and
subjective membership of social groups. This book favours the first approach: Each chapter identifies the characteristics of social classes in different national spaces and describes how they are distinguished from or opposed to one another. We therefore propose to document objective social boundaries, those that form the basis of individuals’ living and working conditions. In a period marked by the resurgence of economic inequalities, the erosion of social protections, and the decline of public services, social structures have been shifting under the influence of globalisation, especially since the 2008 economic crisis. In addition to these economic and political transformations, the expansion of access to higher education and the diffusion of mass cultural goods are increasing the porosity of social groups. The studies presented in this book pay particular attention to objective boundaries but also to the ways in which these relate to symbolic boundaries between social classes, and the discrepancies that can exist between the two.
Read the rest of the introduction by following this link.
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Louise Banet-Rivet (8 janvier 2025). Class Boundaries in Europe. The Bourdieusian Approach in Perspective by Cédric Hugrée, Étienne Penissat, Alexis Spire and Johs. Hjellbrekke. Imbrications des rapports sociaux. Consulté le 22 juillet 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/131j7
