Alcohol, Communities and Researchers: Theorizing the Relationships in an Unstable mixture

Abstract

The growing importance of local communities as sites for preventive alcohol-related initiatives has generated interest in the role of research associated with community action. To date, however, this has not led to a theoretically informed account because of a failure to account reflexively for researchers' own practices and the use of conceptually inadequate models of “community.” This paper proposes an analytical framework, derived from the author's association with alcohol initiatives in several northern Australian towns and drawing on Bourdieu's concept of the social field. It is argued that the initiation of local action generates a complex social field in which stakeholders pursue their interests by mobilizing forms of capital: economic, social, political, and symbolic. Research, as well as the conveyance of valued information, is imbued with symbolic and political capital. The analysis concludes with four propositions relating to how, by whom, and with what consequences research is likely to be utilized in these settings.