Roundtable: Putting Bourdieu to Theoretical Work for Criminology--Exploring Potentialities, Challenges and Limits

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

References to Bourdieu's sociological scholarship are on the increase in criminology, where especially his field theory is used productively in empirical analyses. Classical criminological theorizing has struggled with the agency - structure divide that Bourdieu has strived to overcome in sociology, which is why he might make an important contribution to theoretical development in criminology. Most criminological studies employing Bourdieu have, however, dealt with a rather limited range of crimes, mostly different forms of street crimes (violence, drugs). Why is it so - is his approach less useful for other forms of crime? In the prolongation of the session "Towards a Bourdieusian criminology: Theorising inequality and injustice" (under the stream "Conflict, oppression, injustice and inequality"), which presents four empirical studies, this roundtable will address theoretical questions emanating from applying Bourdieu. There will be a paper by Annick Prieur on the possible meeting between Bourdieu and cultural criminology, by Alistair Fraser on homologies of habitus in a comparative context and by Matt Bowden on urban criminology. Invited discussion partners: Susan Batchelor, Luca Berardi, Jennifer Fleetwood, Daniel Matthews, Chris Richardson, Sveinung Sandberg and Victor Shammas.

Sub Unit

• Area XIII: Roundtable Sessions

Individual Presentations

• Connecting Bourdieu’s Field Theory with Cultural Criminology - Annick Prieur, Aalborg University

• Bourdieu on the Block: New Criminologies of the Street - Alistair Fraser, University of Glasgow

• The Street and the Security Field: Forming a Bourdieusian Urban Criminology - Matt Bowden, Dublin Institute of Technology

Chair

• Susan Batchelor, University of Glasgow

Discussants

• Luca Berardi, University of Alberta

• Jennifer Fleetwood, University of Leicester

• Daniel Matthews, University of Hong Kong

• Chris Richardson, Young Harris College

• Sveinung Sandberg, University of Oslo

• Victor Lund Shammas, University of Oslo