World‐makers and social justice: Strategies of (in)action?

Abstract

AbstractThis article applies a Bourdieusian lens to a critical analysis of global power dynamics to argue that a field framework is useful for studying praxis and (in)action in complex and dynamic global spaces of decision‐making. It is argued that individuals with global power can interact strategically to change their actions for improved social and economic justice, but it requires resisting dominant practices that may maintain existing inequalities. By exploring the interrelations between positions within the global spaces of the World Social Forum and the World Economic Forum, we offer an original contribution to the field of strategic change. We show how the actors in these global spaces have the potential to provoke greater social justice but also risk perpetuating a status quo that continues to favor the few over the many. Participants are world‐makers who wield symbolic power and can create disruption in the “rules of the game,” but the strength of those who seek to defend the status quo can perpetuate inertia. The article offers a novel contribution to the research on global spaces and elite actors by critically analyzing accounts of strategic practices therein, thus offering a more nuanced understanding of world‐making in action or inaction.