Symbolic power in cultural contexts : uncovering social reality

Culture and power are among the most passionately argued concepts and ideas amongst social scientists. The relation between culture and power manifests itself in the concept of symbolic power. The essays in this multifaceted book examine the past and present forms of symbolic power in different geographical and temporal contexts. The book is organized into four major parts. The first part, Symbolic (Mis)representations of Reality, focuses on the concept of symbolic power, classification as a strategy of symbolic manipulation, the authority of first person narration, advanced marginality, and the emergence of the "precariat" in metropolises. The second part, Transforming State, Education and Childhood, deals with the profound changes in the European welfare state and its relation to childhood, and educational systems. The third part, Cultures and Agency in Changing Contexts, sheds light on the position of young female immigrants in Israeli religious schools, the prevailing Chinese culture that prefers sons to daughters, the Finnish fashion industry in a global squeeze, and Australian sense of dwelling place and habitus. The final part, Emerging Identities of Intellectuals in Globalizing World, examines the nature and characteristics of intellectuals in India, the meeting of the Occident and the Orient in Tangier at the beginning of the 20th century, and the potential significance of the highly educated diaspora for socio-economic development. The writers are internationally renowned authors from three continents. Editors Ari Antikainen and Jarmo Houtsonen work at the Department of Sociology at the University of Joensuu in Finland. This book is dedicated to professor M'hammed Sabour.