The Fields of Power Struggle and Symbolic Struggle: Building an Interdisciplinary Community-Communication Research Model

• In Event: ICA Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Poster Session: Philosophy, Theory and Critique Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

I attempted to build a generic interdisciplinary theoretical framework of local urban politics by linking political communication with such adjacent disciplines as urban studies, sociology, and political science. To this end, a case of local low-income housing policy – inclusionary zoning – in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, was assessed. By reconstructing the urban politics in terms of power struggle and symbolic struggle through Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of practice and communication, I developed a comprehensive theoretical framework of community-communication ecology, from an ecological approach to community and public discourse. Also, Bourdieu’s relational mode of social inquiry and methodological guidance were introduced and explained for this research.

Author

• Yongjun Shin, Bridgewater State U