1. “Working with Bourdieu”:
A roundtable discussion and exploration of the uses and limits of the application of Bourdieu's work to current sociological issues
TASA & SAANZ Joint Conference : Auckland New Zealand
Chairs: Rebecca Miller, Stephen McTaggart & Michael Stevens : PhD Candidates, Dept of Sociology and Development studies, The University of Auckland
‘Theory without empirical research is empty. Empirical research without theory is blind (Bourdieu 1988)’.

2. Suggested Bourdieu roundtable structure
Introductions
Rebecca, Michael & Stephen outline their work in relation to Bourdieu’s theory/practice (5 minutes each)
Suggested topics for discussion from attendees
Roundtable discussion
‘Theory without empirical research is empty. Empirical research without theory is blind (Bourdieu 1988)’.

3. Rebecca Miller
Aim of research: To examine the nature & impact of the institutional arrangements in shaping cooperative behaviour among international development agencies working to combat human trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)
Case study: United Nations Inter-Agency Project (UNIAP) on Human Trafficking in the GMS (Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar/Burma, Thailand, and Vietnam)
At a regional level - UNIAP brings together 6 governments, 13 UN agencies & 8 international NGOs

4. New Institutional framework – not enough
Rebecca Miller
What was happening in
the field?
How to describe the development cooperation environment?
How to describe the exchanges – cooperation & competition between actors in the field?
How to explain the gap between expectations, intentions, & disappointing results/ continual restructurings?
New Institutional framework – not enough
Institutionalist framework is largely normative & descriptive – need analytical perspective
Provides little insight into power inequalities & actors’ strategies
Lacks a theory of individual action (relationship between micro level behaviour & meso/macro level structures)
Bourdieu offers an alternative perspective into structural elements of power, but also allows for an examination of cooperative/competitive practices as an economy of exchange driven by strategic positioning and individual interests within field(s).

5. Rebecca Miller Theoretical tools  empirical application
How Bourdieu’s concepts – doxa, habitus, & capital are identified, measured, and seen to operate in the field
Doxa – dominant institutional discourses/structures of the wider development field
Field – exploration of various fields/subfields (i.e. human trafficking field; institutional development field; GMS field; UNIAP field; etc.)
Habitus – conceptualisation, planning, & design of Phase I and II of the UNIAP  how development practitioners draw on specific sets of dispositions, conceptual frames, and schemes, which in turn, reflect the institutional structure of the field itself (particularly in uncertain/new situations)
Capital – the distribution and struggles over different forms of capital
 key finding: cooperation in development demands the creation of a platform from which various forms of capital can be mobilised, consolidated, and exchanged

6. Doxa - Neoliberalism New public management Orthodoxy
Partnerships/cooperation
Heterodoxy
Good governance
Speaking and writing skills; charisma; presence; personal skills; Expertise in a particular area; specialised training; grounded international experience,, etc
Funding, office space, meetings rooms, project vehicles, equipment, etc.
Development (sub)fields
Economic
Cultural
Symbolic
Information
Social
Funding details, reports, published research studies, baseline studies, project proposals, etc.
Access to Resident Coordinator; networks with NGOs, etc.
Capital mobilisation, accumulation & exchanges
Prestige, status, recognition, respect, reputation, distinction, visibility, influence, presence, etc

7. Michael Stevens - Bourdieu & HIV
Applying Bourdieu to the study of HIV transmission
What his work offers
The chance to integrate qualitative research with theory
To lift the work beyond just a collection of interviews

8. Michael Stevens -Tools of Analysis
Key Concepts
Field
Doxa (Doxic Shift)
Habitus
How these three interact in the area of HIV prevention and awareness in MSM

9. Michael Stevens - Application
Doxic Shift
How does it change?
What does it signify?
Why does it matter?
How can we detect it?
What effects could this have?

10. Michael Stevens - Summary
Bourdieu’s theory offers a flexible and practical set of analytical tools in this context
Combines social, economic and cultural factors to explain shifts in sexual practice
Holds value as way of conceptualising new era of HIV and new challenges for prevention

11. Transmission of “Class” inequalities and stratification within the site of mate selection Stephen McTaggart
Reproduction, persistence and transmission of class inequalities/stratification from differences found and marked in social interaction of actors/groups of actors
Relationships and social actions reflect, differentiate and renew class positions

12. Meta-Meso-Micro approaches
Transmission of “Class” inequalities and stratification within the site of mate selection Stephen McTaggart
Meta-Meso-Micro approaches
Meta (theory)
Bourdieu after Marx, Weber,
Saussure
Habitus Capital Field
Meso (theory)
Homophily
Homogamy
Differential association
Micro
Empirical investigation of
mate selection using
correspondence analysis

13. Contextual Influences Stephen McTaggart
Homophily (Birds of a feather flock together)
Geography and Spatial
Propinquity and segregation
Differential association
Marriage market /Supply and demand
Homogamy (homophily in marriage formation )
Relative
Status
Occupational
Hypergamy

14. Empirical investigation of mate selection Stephen McTaggart
Data
National-level data (NZ Household censuses) for a 20 year period ( )
Variables
male and female cohabitate partners occupational categories
Analysis
Correspondence analysis: a relational and social distance model for categorical data

15. Suggested topics from the chairs
Can Bourdieu's oeuvre be considered a meta theory? Is there conceptual continuity?
Contradictions as problems in Bourdieu’s work?
Challenges encountered in the operationalisation of Bourdieu's concepts? (theoretical explorations  empirical applications)