While the connection between major choice and career goals seems logically obvious, research exploring this process is limited, particularly concerning how socio-economic class, based on parents' educational levels, influences the choice process. An important initial step in understanding this larger process is to explore how SES-based differences affect the process of choosing a major, a career goal and the way in which students link their major to a possible career. This study utilizes a comparative interview design to explore the lived experiences regarding major and career aspirations of first generation and traditional college seniors who have transferred from a community college to Portland State University. This study considers a first generation student to be any student that does not have a parent that has graduated from a four-year university in the United States. A traditional student is any student that has one or more parents who have earned at least a four-year degree in the U.S. Using a conceptual framework based on Pierre Bourdieu's work on social reproduction, this qualitative interview study examines how social and cultural capital as well as habitus influences first generation and traditional community college transfer students' choice of career, major and the link these students make between the two. This research found that the majority of students, both first generation and traditional community college transfer students, gained domain specific information that helped them with their major and or career goals from mentors such as, professors and academic advisers. However, Traditional students received "life advice" and encouragement from family members and employers that helped them to stay on track and gain inside information regarding their career choices. Traditional students used their past and current work history to assist them in strengthening their chances at realizing their career goals. Many traditional students planned to use the degrees they earned at college to advance within fields they already were working in. In comparison, it was only after they started college and settled on specific majors that first generation students looked for work experiences to help explore possible occupational outcomes. Another major difference between the two groups of students was that traditional students linked their majors to multiple jobs in an occupational area while first generation students linked their major to specific occupational positions. While there has been a large amount of research in the United States using Bourdieu's theory to examine how micro processes of language and teacher's expectations are utilized to maintain social stratification in K-12 education, there has been little research done on the micro processes that occur in college that lead to the reproduction of social class. This thesis illustrates how family background-based advantages that lead to differences in students' K-12 success actually continue after they enter higher education. By drawing attention to the importance of how family-background impacts major and career choices for community college transfer students after they arrive at the university, this thesis contributes to Bourdieu's explanation of how education at all levels contributes to the reproduction of a socially stratified society.

Sociologists of punishment generally agree that the American prison exacerbates social inequality, but the mechanisms by which it does so remain somewhat fuzzy. This thesis pulls from the tradition of Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002), a canonical theorist of power and inequality, and specifically his three "thinking tools" of field, capital, and habitus, to unveil these mechanisms. Empirically, I turn to ethnographic data I collected in a minimum-security men's prison that is generally reserved for convicts who will be released to one of the three most populated counties in Oregon. I explore how soon-to-be-released prisoners (i.e., prisoners who will be released within six months) understand and prepare for their exit. Data suggest most prisoners approaching release want to adopt an honest working class style of living, and that many take proactive steps they perceive as likely to increase their chances of accessing this lifestyle (sometimes called the "straight life"). However, I argue that any (re)integrative potential emerging from these conscious and interest-oriented strategies are at risk of being trumped by two processes I title "capital erosion" and "habitus adjustment." I frame these as unintended, but nevertheless strong, consequences of imprisonment. Ultimately, I suggest imprisonment worsens existing patterns of inequality by means of draining power from the nearly powerless and disintegrating the poorly integrated.

This study documents the problematic translator-publisher relationship in the case of the English translation of Simone de Beauvoir’s Le deuxième sexe. The socio-historical investigation of the case study demonstrates that the 1953 translation was complicated by several factors: the translator’s lack of philosophical knowledge, the editor’s demands to cut and simplify the text, the publisher’s intention to emphasize the book’s scientific cachet, and Beauvoir’s lack of cooperation. The investigation focuses on two aspects: the translator’s subservience and the involvement of multiple actors. Primarily concerned with the interaction between the translator and other actors, this study seeks answers that require investigation into historical documents and the work of other scholars critical of The Second Sex. In this enquiry, more than one hundred letters between the translator, H. M. Parshley, and the publisher, Knopf, are thoroughly analyzed. The study combines Bruno Latour’s and Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological concepts in order to provide a more detailed and encompassing examination within the context of Translation Studies. The letter correspondence is the primary evidence on which the study’s conclusions are based. / Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

This study aims to highlight the art critic Stig Johansson's position during two historical moments: 1962-63 and 1972. The theoretical and methodological framework is mainly derived from Pierre Bourdieu’s understanding of the art field and the art critic's role and mission within that specific field. Art criticism is an important text source for expanded knowledge of how the discussion of contemporary art has been conducted. In the first chapter of the thesis, I describe some of the investments that preceded Johansson’s role as art critic. These efforts are to be regarded as field-specific as they were preparing Johansson with the kind of social capital that won recognition in the art field. In the second part of the essay, I distinguish between the art critical genre and mission. Instead of limiting the study to art reviews, which is usually associated with the genre of art criticism, the thesis also include material such as debate articles and notices. The study of these different text types contribute to an increased understanding of how art criticism practice actually worked, and what was to be included in such practices during these historical periods. The third chapter is based on an empirical study and focus on three selected themes: the new, the political and the art critic role. The fourth part consists of a text analysis based on Malcolm Gee’s strategies for persuasion in art criticism. A presentation and discussion of the art critical material, and hence the position Johansson takes, contributes to an increased understanding of the negotiations that characterized the art field during the periods in question. The thesis contributes to a nuanced perspective on the production of meaning through problematizing positions and values in the Swedish art field during two important historical moments.

Ce projet de recherche a pour but d’étudier le processus créatif, l’apprentissage social, la rationalité, les conflits, les règles et les normes de trois groupes d’auteurs contemporains à New York et à Paris. Les méthodes de recherche incluent des entretiens avec des auteurs, la narration d’anecdotes sur le comportement des acteurs sociaux, la construction d’un tableau sociométrique des règles et des normes propres à chaque groupe d’après la théorie de Howard BECKER, et une analyse de texte qui mobilise la méthode d’étude structurale du sociologue de la littérature Lucien GOLDMANN. Ce projet de recherche a permis l’identification des niches sociales d’auteurs contemporains, dans lesquelles des échanges d’informations permettent un apprentissage social qui a de la valeur professionnelle et personnelle pour les acteurs sociaux en question. Enfin, ce projet de recherche permettra le placement des auteurs contemporains dans l’organigramme de la production culturelle de Pierre BOURDIEU, qui distingue « le sous-champ de l’avant-garde », « le sous-champ de la grande production » et « le champ du pouvoir » dans le monde littéraire. / The purpose of this research project is to explore the creative process, social learning, motivation, conflicts, rules and norms of three groups of contemporary writers in New York and Paris. Research methods include interviews with authors, the narration of anecdotes about the behavior of the social actors, and the construction of a sociometric table of rules and norms specific to each group according to the theory of Howard BECKER. This project also offers contains a literary analysis using Lucien GOLDMANN’s method of structural study. This research led to the identification of social networks of contemporary authors, in which the exchange of information allows social learning that has both professional and personal value for the social actors in question. Finally, this research will allow the placement of contemporary authors into Pierre BOURDIEU’s map of cultural production, which distinguishes “the sub-field of the avant-garde,” “the sub-field of large-scale production,” and “the field of power” in the literary world.

In dieser Studie wird erstmals die Frage untersucht, wie das Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas in Berlin auf die Besucher wirkt. Dafür wird eine quantitative Befragung von 500 Besuchern durchgeführt. Zunächst werden die Erinnerungskulturtheorien von Jan und Aleida Assmann und Horst-Alfred Heinrich vorgestellt. Anschließend wird das Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas örtlich und zeitlich eingebunden, indem das Konzept des repräsentativen öffentlichen Raums eingeführt und die Erinnerung an die Opfer des Holocaust in der Bundesrepublik und der DDR beleuchtet werden. Es folgt die Darstellung der Entstehung des Denkmals. Über die Rezeption von Denkmälern existieren in den Sozialwissenschaften bisher keine Theorien. Daher wird auf die kunstsoziologische Theorie von Pierre Bourdieu, auf eine Studie über die Wirkung von Gedenkstätten von Bert Pampel und auf eine Untersuchung über die emotionale Wirkung von Gemälden von Dorothée Halcour zurückgegriffen. Für die Untersuchung wird angenommen, dass sich die Besucher aufgrund ihres Bildungsgrades, ihrer Nationalität, ihres Alters und ihres Sozialisationsortes in ihren Reaktionen auf das Denkmal unterscheiden. Weiterhin wird angenommen, dass die Umstände des Denkmalbesuchs die Wirkung des Denkmals beeinflussen. Die Befragung zeigt: Personen mit niedrigerem Bildungsgrad konnten sich das Denkmal seltener erschließen als Personen mit höherem Bildungsgrad. Diese Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass Teile der Bevölkerung nicht an der Erinnerung an den Holocaust teilhaben können, wenn die Materialisierung der Erinnerung über Kunst geschieht. Die Nationalität beeinflusste wesentlich, wie die Befragten das Denkmal bewerteten: So beurteilten Deutsche das Denkmal häufiger negativ und seltener positiv als Ausländer. Die Ergebnisse der Befragung werden abschließend im Kontext erinnerungspolitischer Debatten diskutiert. / This study asks how the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin affects its visitors. The study comprises a quantitative survey of 500 visitors. First the study introduces the theories of memory by Jan and Aleida Assmann and Horst-Alfred Heinrich. This is followed by the concept of the so-called representative public space that locates the memorial topographically. This chapter also shows the historical context of the memorial. It describes the development processes of earlier monuments to remember the victims of the Holocaust in the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic between 1945 and 2005. The study then shows the development process of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. There are no theories on the effects of memorials in the social sciences. The study uses Pierre Bourdieu''s theory of art sociology as well as a study on the impact of memorial sites by Bert Pampel and a study on the emotional effects of paintings by Dorothee Halcour as a theoretical frame. The most resultant hypothesises tested by the research state that visitors differ in their reactions to the memorial according to their education, their nationality and their age. Furthermore the study presumes that the circumstances of visiting the memorial affect how people react to the memorial. The results show that visitors with lower levels of education are less often able to develop an understanding of the memorial compared to visitors with a higher education background. The results indicate that these visitors are excluded from the intended remembrance of the Holocaust when the materialization of the memorial is implemented with artistic measures. Nationality plays a significant role too and influences visitors when judging the memorial. Germans more often have negative and less often positive judgements than foreign visitors. Finally the results of the research are discussed in the context of the cultural debate around the significance of memorials.

Within the field of cinema studies, the question of visual representation is a fundamental pillar. An immense volume of theoretical work has been written on the subject, with various academic approaches such as feministic, postcolonial and gay/lesbian. Yet there is a large social group that seems to have been overlooked within the representational discourse: the elderly. This group of people appears to be a blind spot on the multicultural retina, too often neglected within the area of cultural studies. But as the baby boomer generation, who has always redefined the different stages of life (youth, adulthood, middle age), is entering old age, things are slowly changing. Utilizing a post-structural framework, this essay investigates the visual representation of elderly within the cinematic landscape of the western world. Since the subject is somewhat uncharted territory, a broad interdisciplinary approach is necessary where modern social gerontology meets the field of cinema studies. In a cultural context, social grouping based on age implies a distinct position versus the normative, compare to other types of minorities. Changes of sex, skin colour or sexual preference are uncommon, whereas changing age is the fate of every human being. The elderly as the “the Other” is thus every man’s future destiny. This rather unique position carries an immanent paradox since the only way to avoid the periphery in question is death. As a philosophical counterpoint to this rather dystopian outlook, Gilles Deleuze’s theory of becoming is brought into the discussion. The theoretical part of the essay ends with the ontology of age, a historical review of the field of gerontology and the concept of ageism. After a descriptive section, where contemporary examples of film and other media with old age as a main theme are identified, the analytical part of the essay ensues. With the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu as a theoretical frame of reference, a close reading of the films Avalon (Axel Petersén, 2011), About Schmidt (Alexander Payne, 2002) and RED (Robert Schwentke, 2010) are performed, emphasising aging identity and imposed age-normative behaviour. The semiotics of the aged body is discussed through Jacques Lacans mirror stage and Julia Kristevas abject theory, exemplified by the works of Donigan Cumming. The final part of the essay concerns the great eternal questions within film philosophy: life, death, time and memory, which for the elderly are not merely philosophical concerns but rather notable existential realities. Using Deleuze as a philosophical toolbox, these grand topics are illuminated with examples from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher, 2008), Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012) and Ingmar Bergmans classical works, such as Smultronstället (1957), Saraband (2003) and Gycklarnas afton (1953).

Diploma thesis "I become speech." Death and Return of the Author in the Perspective of Philosophy of Identity focuses on the question of inclusion of the author into the interpretation of literary text and aims to highlight the fruitfulness of such inclusion as well as some of its dangers. The thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part the author of the thesis presents a polemic account of some antiauthorial approaches, especially the "death of the author" as appearing in the texts of R. Barthes, M. Foucault and Jacques Derrida, along with a short mention of antiintentionalism of W. K Wimsatt and M. C. Beardsley and a theory of the model author by U. Eco. The common feature of the aforementioned antiauthorial theories is a reductive idea of the author and his relation to text - the problematic aspects of authorial interpretation, which their texts wish to make evident, is then only a consequence of the problematic underlying notion of the author-subject. The second part of the thesis intends to present an alternative theoretical understanding of the "real author" using the philosophy of identity od J. Butler and P. Bourdieu. These authors are proposing a theory of a person who is not understood as a "real thing" that would be available for a complete delimitation, description and...

Abstract This study concerns the Swedish artist Roj Friberg (1934–2016). The essay is based on a study of technique and materiality used by Friberg. He is quite marginalized and slightly forgotten in the Swedish art history and when mentioned merely described as a painter from the 1960´s who used graphite mixed with French turpentine, in order to work on the surface with an eraser attached to an electric drill. However, Friberg used other different and more complex painting techniques in his work, something this essay will notice and highlight. The used method is a biographical, dealing with the references to Friberg. To explain why he was considered an “outsider” in Swedish art, the theory of social capital by Pierre Bourdieu is applied. Also, Wolfgang Kemps concept of reception history, which focus on the arts beholder, rather than the artists itself. From the middle of 1970 Friberg also used an ancient painting technique called encaustic, heated beeswax mixed with pigment. Paintings which have received very little attention; therefore, the focus is on his use of encaustic in combination with his other techniques, such as melted graphite, melted wax crayons or drawn with wax crayons and graphite. The work with lasered layers and the typical method of working from darkness to light in Friberg´s pictures shows resemblance with the ancient encaustic portraits from Fayum, in the 50 AD.

Med bakgrund i hur samhällets digitalisering präglar utbildningsväsendet, som i sin tur påverkar skolans teknikundervisning, behandlar det här examensarbetet teknikelevers habitus och strategier som tar sig uttryck i deras möte med användning av digitala verktyg som tillämpas i teknikundervisningen. Inspiration tas från sociologen Pierre Bourdieus teorier om olika kapitalformer och strategier. Dessutom kommer digitalt kapital att tillämpas som ytterligare teoretiskt ramverk. Övergripande syfte med arbetet är att öka förståelse för identifiering av behov och styrkor hos elevmålgruppen i samband med deras användning av digitala verktyg i teknikundervisningen. Studien bygger på en kvalitativ analys via semi- samt strukturerade intervjuer med fyra teknikelever i årskurs 1 samt tre tekniklärare på gymnasiets teknikprogram. Där data bearbetas genom datainsamling via ljudinspelningar och vidare datatranskribering. Analysen presenteras som rekonstruktioner av olika elevhabitus i form av elevprofiler och praktikbeskrivningar utifrån lärarintervjuer. Studiens resultat och analys påvisar en tendens om tidigt utvecklat digitalt kapital sammanflätad med andra kapitalformer såsom socialt- och kulturellt kapital som kännetecknar samtliga elevprofiler oavsett kön. Dessa utifrån beskrivningar som tyder på bland annat elevprofilers stor samlade tillgångar i form av digital tillgänglighet, digitala verktyg, sociala nätverk, föräldrar och/ eller syskon med akademiska utbildningar. Dessutom framträder från praktikbeskrivningar en bild av att samtliga elevprofiler, förutom att vara positiv inställda till användning av digitala verktyg, är som modiga med självständighet i problemlösning oavsett lärarens digitala kompetens. Däremot framhåller samtliga elevprofiler vikten av lärarens kompetens i digitala verktyg för stöd i undervisningen. Enligt praktikbeskrivningar för högre årskurser, krävs det att elevprofilerna utvecklar andra förmågor såsom kommunikations- samt samarbetsförmåga på ett effektivt sätt. Vilket kan tyda på att digitalt kapital behöver utvecklas i relation till andra kapitalformer för framgång och för att tillskrivas av värde i sociala praktiken. Gällande resultat om elevprofilers tidigt förvärvade digitala kapital är det av vikt att undersöka vidare egenskaper såsom mindre tålamod och vana att ”knappa sig fram” ur ett habitusperspektiv. Eftersom enligt praktikbeskrivningar dessa egenskaper anses som negativa i möte med digitala verktyg i teknikundervisningen, vilket kräver att elever följer verktygets instruktioner noggrant. Detta förefaller utgöra att dessa habitus behöver förändras för att elevprofilerna ska kunna förränta dessa som digitalt kapital i skolan som en social praktik. Vidare tenderar faktorer såsom ålder och ekonomisk tillgång i denna studie främja det digitala kapitalet för samtliga elevprofiler. Dessutom påvisar studiens resultat en tendens om att elevprofilernas tillämpade utbildningsstrategier i teknikundervisningen, såsom problemlösnings- samt informationssökningsstrategier, återspeglar deras förvärvade kapitaltillgångar och familjers sociala reproduktionsstrategier. Vidare studier om elevers digitala kapital och dess olika beståndsdelar samt hur skolan och undervisningen kan påverka det digitala kapitalet vore intressant. Detta för att bland annat undersöka hur digitalt kapital kan formas i undervisningen. Med tanke på samspelet mellan digitalt kapital och andra kapitalformer vore det intressant att undersöka hur utfallet kan påverka undervisningskvalitet och elevers lärande. Om detta i sin tur kan påvisas som externa, observerbara sociala resurser såsom elevers framtida val av högre studier och yrkespositioner. Dessutom huruvida kompetensutvecklingsstrategier för lärare inom digitala verktyg är av vikt för huvudmän och skolans organisationer. Detta för att fylla gapet med digitala ojämlikheter som kan komma att utspela sig mellan generationer däribland mellan elever och lärare. Vilket i slutändan kan gynna undervisningen och elevers lärande. / With a background in how society's digitization characterizes the educational system, which in turn affects the school's technology education, this thesis deals with technology students' habitus and strategies that are expressed in their encounter with the use of digital tools applied in technology education. Inspiration is taken from sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's theories on different forms of capital and strategies. In addition, digital capital will apply as additional theoretical framework. The overall aim of the work is to increase understanding of the identification of needs and strengths of the student target group in connection with their use of digital tools in technology education. The study is based on a qualitative analysis via semi- and structured interviews with four technology students in year 1 and three technology teachers in the high school's technology program. Where data is processed through data collection via audio recordings and further data transcription. The analysis is presented as reconstructions of different student habits in the form of student profiles and practice descriptions based on teacher interviews. The study's results and analysis demonstrate a tendency of early developed digital capital intertwined with other forms of capital such as social- and cultural capital that characterizes all student profiles regardless of gender. These are based on descriptions that indicate, among other things, student profiles' large collective assets in the form of digital accessibility, digital tools, social networks, parents and/or siblings with academic educations. In addition, a picture emerges from practice descriptions that all student profiles, in addition to being positive towards the use of digital tools, are courageous with independence in problem solving regardless of the teacher's digital competence. On the other hand, all student profiles emphasize the importance of the teacher's competence in digital tools to support teaching. According to practice descriptions for higher grades, it is required that the student profiles develop other abilities such as communication and cooperation skills in an effective way. Which may indicate that digital capital needs to be developed in relation to other forms of capital for success and to be attributed value in social practice. Regarding student profiles' early acquired digital capital, it is important to investigate further characteristics such as less patience and the habit of typing their way in from a habitus perspective. Because, according to practice descriptions, these characteristics are considered negative when dealing with digital tools in technology education, which requires students to follow the tool's instructions carefully. This seems to mean that these habitus need to change in order for the student profiles to be able to profit from these as digital capital in the school as a social practice. Furthermore, factors such as age and financial access in this study tend to promote digital capital for all student profiles. In addition, the results of the study demonstrate a tendency that the student profiles' applied educational strategies in technology education, such as problem-solving and information-seeking strategies, reflect their acquired capital assets and families' social reproduction strategies. Further studies on students' digital capital and its various components, as well as how school and teaching can affect digital capital, would be interesting. This is to investigate, among other things, how digital capital can be shaped in teaching. Considering the interaction between digital capital and other forms of capital, it would be interesting to investigate how the outcome can affect teaching quality and student learning. And if this in turn can be demonstrated as external, observable social resources such as students' future choice of higher studies and professional positions. In addition, whether competence development strategies for teachers in digital tools are of importance to principals and the school's organizations. This is to fill the gap with digital inequalities that may occur between generations, including between students and teachers. Which can ultimately benefit teaching and student learning.