Notion Of Symbolic Violence Research Articles

Exceptionality of Space: Sexual Violence in “The Camp. A Little Girl from Karabakh” by Gunel Movlud

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Volume 27 No 2 2024,84-99 © Khazar University Press 2024 DOI: 10.5782/2223-2621.2024.27.2.84 84 Exceptionality of Space: Sexual Violence in “The Camp. A Little Girl from Karabakh” by Gunel Movlud Eva LennartzNazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstaneva.lennartz@nu.edu.kzAbstractIn the autobiographical novel “The Camp. A Little Girl from Karabakh” the Azerbaijani author Gunel Movlud describes her experiences of living in a refugee camp in the Sabirabad region of Azerbaijan. Movlud was forced to flee her home town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region during the First Karabakh War (1988-1994). For five years, she lived in the tent camp. In the novel, Movlud describes the hardships of the life in the camp and different characters from her personal perspective. What is striking from her observations is the amount of sexual violence apparent in the camp and the seemingly tacit acceptance of the camp inhabitants. This paper seeks to find a theoretical explanation for the violence encountered in the camp. The analysis is based on the novel itself as well as an interview conducted with the author. It is found that Agamben’s ideaof the exceptionality of space and Bourdieu’s notion of symbolic violence can help explain the violence encountered in the camp. In the author’s view it was women in the end who appeared stronger than men and who held the social fabric of the camp together.

Symbolic Time(s) of Violence in Late Socialist Bulgaria

By introducing Bourdieu's notion of symbolic violence, the author explores the state uses of the cinematic industry—notably through the making of grandiose national epics—in the endeavor to model and, ultimately, to assimilate Muslim minorities during the so-called “Revival Process” (1984–1989) in socialist Bulgaria. Drawing attention to often-neglected aspects of film production, such as the selection of symbolically charged “national landscapes,” shooting locations, and the use of Muslim film extras, she examines the production of a state-sponsored historical master narrative, its widespread dissemination at home and abroad, and the attempt at channeling film reception by national minorities and the majority population. The visual recreation of the alleged Ottoman “forced islamization” of Christians and the blurring of the distinction between fiction and fact, as well as past and present were intended to boost the national pride of the majority, achieve support for anti-minority measures, and win the obedience of minorities.

De-naturalizing the “predatory”: A study of “bogus” publications at public sector universities in Pakistan

ABSTRACT Predatory publishing has recently emerged as a menace in academia. University professors and researchers often exploit this practice for their economic gains and institutional prestige. The present study investigates such existing predatory publishing practices in Pakistani public sector universities drawing on the notion of symbolic violence. For this purpose, we analyzed 495 articles published by 50 university professors in the social sciences and humanities over the period 2017–2021. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 postgraduate students to gather their perspectives on publishing practices. The study shows that 69% of the sample papers were published in predatory journals, as identified in Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) online journal recognition system (HJRS). Postgraduate students’ insights inform the study that the students misrecognize these malpractices in academia as a problem what is referred to as “symbolic violence.” Consequently, they engage in the process to increase their publications. Such publications enable both the university professors and the students to achieve the desired benefit, such as promotions, tenure, and academic degrees. We recommend that this practice must be altered at the policy level since it not only violates the HEC’s standards for quality research but also damages the researchers’ credibility and country’s scientific reputation.

Journalism ‘fixers’, hyper-precarity and the violence of the entrepreneurial self

The figure of the so-called journalism ‘fixer’ has received overdue academic attention in recent years. Scholars have highlighted the role played by fixers in international news reporting, a role historically obscured in the mythos of the Western foreign correspondent. Recent research has produced useful insights about the work done by fixers in ‘the shadows’ of the international news economy. However, it has also tended towards a domestication of the role, where the local ‘fixer’ finds their place in a collaborative relationship with those officially consecrated as ‘journalists’ from elsewhere. This article presents a critical theoretical analysis of this functional role, building on the image of the fixer as a kind of ‘entrepreneur’. Rather than interpreting the latter designation as a source of empowerment or agency, we approach it as a euphemism for the hyper-precarious and exploitative underpinnings of fixer-labour. Our argument draws on different theoretical sources, including Foucault-inspired work on the entrepreneurial rationality of the neoliberal self, Bourdieu’s notion of symbolic violence, and Rancière’s concept of politics. The theoretical argument is supported by the first author’s reflections of working as a Pakistani-based ‘fixer’ during the U.S-led war on terror.

Student loans as symbolic violence

ABSTRACT This paper asks whether Bourdieu’s notion of symbolic violence is a helpful lens through which to view student loan systems. Symbolic violence occurs when two unequal agents unconsciously conspire in the oppression of the less empowered agent, thus reinforcing and legitimating existing stratifications. Using England as a case study, we draw on in-depth interviews with 74 graduating students at two types of university. Half of the interviewees were part of a lower fees (pre-2012 entry) cohort and half were part of a higher fees (2012 entry) cohort. Students share ways in which the loan system affects their psychological stability and their imagined futures. We argue that symbolic violence (a) is encoded in public discourses of student borrowing; (b) becomes more prominent as systems move towards higher fees, regardless of forecast total repayment levels; and (c) is experienced differently by different types of students.

The violence of narrative: embodying responsibility for poverty-related stress.

Narratives of self‐responsibility are pervasive in neoliberally oriented contexts, and have been found to engender feelings of shame and failure amongst those affected by poverty. Here, we use findings from research in two low‐income communities in south‐west England to examine how these narratives become embodied within people's daily lives when they intersect with systems of welfare support and the current political drive to upscale treatment for common mental health conditions. Drawing on Bourdieu's notion of symbolic violence, we examine how narratives of self‐responsibility and associated welfare reform strategies impact on the mental health of people living in economic hardship. The data show how such narratives inflict, sustain and exacerbate mental distress and suffering, and how they become naturalised and normalised by individuals themselves. We demonstrate how this situation pushes people to seek support from General Practitioners, and how clinical interactions can normalise, and in turn, medicalise, poverty‐related distress. Whilst some people actively resist dominant narratives around self‐responsibility, we argue that this is insufficient under broader sociocultural and political circumstances, to free themselves from the harms perpetuated by symbolic violence.

Cuerpos de mujeres, significados de género y límites simbólicos en la gran minería en Chile

El artículo busca develar los modos en que trabajadoras de faenas mineras significan sus cuerpos, como barrera simbólica que produce segregación, discriminación y marginación, interpretados desde las nociones de violencia simbólica, valencia diferencial de los sexos, desigualdad de género, precariedad y estigma social. Desde una metodología cualitativa, a través del análisis de 31 entrevistas a operarias y supervisoras, se interpretan y triangulan percepciones en torno a trayectorias y experiencias de relacionamiento de género en la gran minería. La corporalidad como límite y violencia se expresa en la sexualización de sus cuerpos; juicio e infravaloración por la menor fuerza física; rechazo, estigmatización y banalización al cuerpo reproductivo; así como en exigencias por personificar rasgos hegemónicos masculinos para inspirar respeto, pero sin “perder feminidad” clásica, provocando desgaste y confrontación.

The symbolic economy of authenticity as a form of symbolic violence: the case of middle-class ethnic minorities

While authenticity has become a main axiological principle in late-modernity, a desired good and token of worth, studies from different countries indicate inequality in access to authenticity: middle-class ethnic minorities often face difficulties being recognized as authentic and experiencing themselves as such. This phenomenon is discussed below in terms of symbolic violence. While doing this the article makes several theoretical contributions: (1) Bourdieu's notion of symbolic violence is historicized. Different forms of symbolic violence (pre-modern, modern, and late-modern) are distinguished, each relying on a unique cosmology, logic, and symbolic economy. (2) Different strategies employed by social theorists to theorize authenticity are discussed and compared to reveal a gap between common understandings of authenticity as the dispositional depth of action and the misrecognized principle that often informs the ascription of authenticity, i.e. faithfulness to established discursive categories. Discursive structures allow members of hegemonic groups to naturalize cultural exploration and self-transformation as authentic self-realization, whereas even second-generation middle-class ethnic minorities often have their classed dispositions suspected as inauthentic. Some eventually understand themselves as inauthentic, while others invest in late acquisition of lowbrow culture in order to gain authenticity, thus contributing to their own subjection. (3) Cultural schemes may thus exert symbolic violence even if they cannot be traced back to strategic action of their privileged beneficiaries.

Approaching an Investigation of Multi-Dimensional Inequality Through the Lenses of Variety in Models of Capitalism

After a synthetic presentation of the state of poverty and inequality in the world and the contradictions incurred by economic theory in this field after decades of globalization and in the midst of a persisting global crisis, in paragraphs 2. and 3. we outline the rational for our theoretical analysis, underlining two main aspects. First of all, in paragraph 2. we recall the reasons which makes inequality a multidimensional phenomenon, while in paragraph 3. we explore the reasons why the models of capitalism theory is relevant for studying multidimensional inequality. These paragraphs emphasise that inequality is a multidimensional and cumulative phenomenon and it should not be conceived only as the result of the processes of personal and functional distribution of income and wealth, which even by themselves are intrinsically multidimensional. The basic idea is that institutions, the cobweb of relations among them and their interaction with the economic structure define the model of capitalism which characterises a specific country and this, in turn, affects the level and the dynamics of inequality. This approach is consistent with the sociological approach by Rehbein and Souza (2014), based on the analytical framework developed by Pierre Bourdieu. In paragraph 4. we outline the rational for our empirical analysis, applying the notion of institutional complementarity and examining the relationship between institutional complementarity, models of capitalism and inequality. Besides, refining Amable’s analysis (2003), we provide empirical evidence on the relationship between inequality in income distribution and models of capitalism. Additionally, basing on cluster analysis, we identify six different models of capitalism in a sample of OECD countries, provide preliminary evidence on the different level of inequality which characterises each model and suggest that no evidence supports of the idea that a single model of capitalism is taking shape in this sphere in EU. In paragraph 5. we give some hints about issues in search for a new interpretation capable to fasten together the process of increasing inequality, the notion of symbolic violence and the models of capitalism theory. In the last paragraph we focus on conclusions useful for carrying on our research agenda.

Approaching an investigation of multi-dimensional inequalitythrough the lenses of variety in models of capitalism

After a synthetic presentation of the state of poverty and inequality in the world and the contradictions incurred by economic theory in this field after decades of globalization and in the midst of a persisting global crisis, in paragraphs 2. and 3. we outline the rational for our theoretical analysis, underlining two main aspects. First of all, in paragraph 2. we recall the reasons which makes inequality a multidimensional phenomenon, while in paragraph 3. we explore the reasons why the models of capitalism theory is relevant for studying multidimensional inequality. These paragraphs emphasise that inequality is a multidimensional and cumulative phenomenon and it should not be conceived only as the result of the processes of personal and functional distribution of income and wealth, which even by themselves are intrinsically multidimensional. The basic idea is that institutions, the cobweb of relations among them and their interaction with the economic structure define the model of capitalism which characterises a specific country and this, in turn, affects the level and the dynamics of inequality. This approach is consistent with the sociological approach by Rehbein and Souza (2014), based on the analytical framework developed by Pierre Bourdieu. In paragraph 4. we outline the rational for our empirical analysis, applying the notion of institutional complementarity and examining the relationship between institutional complementarity, models of capitalism and inequality. Besides, refining Amable’s analysis (2003), we provide empirical evidence on the relationship between inequality in income distribution and models of capitalism. Additionally, basing on cluster analysis, we identify six different models of capitalism in a sample of OECD countries, provide preliminary evidence on the different level of inequality which characterises each model and suggest that no evidence supports of the idea that a single model of capitalism is taking shape in this sphere in EU. In paragraph 5. we give some hints about issues in search for a new interpretation capable to fasten together the process of increasing inequality, the notion of symbolic violence and the models of capitalism theory. In the last paragraph we focus on conclusions useful for carrying on our research agenda.

Towards the Configuration of an Industrial Engineering Education Field in Colombia from the Critical Didactics Pedagogy

This work I try to deliver in this paper due to the search by the sense of being a teacher-engineer, for some time. The constant search for the meaning of engineering education in environments like ours, still so dependent senses and knowledge of others, that being so alien, and imposes were simply assumed without further discussion. Industrial engineering does not arise in Colombia as a field of being able specific, with a corpus discipline clearly definitely and differentiated, which is constituted one of the motives that impedes his tracking inside engineering education history. In the statements till now opposing, there is glimpsed how this function was replaced by other engi- neers in the industry, such as chemical or mechanical engineers, maybe the only one fact that re- veals his emergence is his institutionalization as study plan in the Universidad Industrial de San- tander in 1958 The exhibition of these facts, it uses as support: The first one is that the processes of modernization and the form like formed, from the new forms of economic rationality created with the development model; they made necessary the appearance of the industrial engineering as discipline in the powers of engineering. The second one is that it is possible to form alternate speeches for the field of the industrial engineering in Colombia. This reflection becomes relevant in recent times when promoting critical thinking in engineering education has become important, from the understanding that engineering moves into the intersection between social and technical expertise should adapt to the economic, political and cultural contexts in which it is applied. To which I make use of Foucault’s notions of power and subjectivity, the Bourdieu’s notions of symbolic violence and Habermas communicative action. Finally I try to illustrate the reflection with the application of the concept “affectively critical learning” developed from the courses that I directed in the Universidad Autonoma de Colombia.

Released from Gender? Reflexivity, Performativity, and Therapeutic Discourses

My paper is an analysis of contemporary Czech expert discourses on love and coupledom, framed within ongoing feminist discussions of sociological theory's emphasis on the individualization, reflexivity and detraditionalization of gender. Using Bourdieu's notion of symbolic violence, I argue for understanding therapeutic discourses as perlocutionary speech acts that authoritatively enact gendered norms and heteronormative assumptions. This performative approach both challenges heightened reflexivity theory by pointing to its flawed voluntarism, and also allows for grasping transformation through fissures between a perlocutionary act and its reception.

Rural medical marriages: Understanding symbolic violence in the social practice of gender

Synopsis This article examines the social practice of gender amongst rural GPs and in rural medical marriages and considers Bourdieu’s notions of symbolic violence and misrecognition important elements in understanding how inequitable gender relations are sustained and reproduced. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in rural Western Australia amongst GPs and their spouses/partners I explore the notion that gender as a structural or organising principle impacts on expectations and experiences of roles in the workplace and in the home. Compliance with conventional views of male as provider and female as primary caregiver raises questions about the advantages of conformity and the costs of challenge. Nonetheless, contesting dominant ideas and practices that do not serve the interests of non-dominant groups may well cause conflict but can lead to change.

Administrators mandating mediation: tools of institutional violence cloaked in the discourse of reconciliation

Drawing on a critical incident, the practice of administrators mandating mediation as a means to resolve institutional conflicts is explored. The case is made that in relegating conceptual critique and disagreement to a psychologized space, individuals become the sites for change instead of the institution. The analysis is in keeping with Bourdieu's notions of symbolic violence, where domination is exercised in the everyday practices of an institution, favoring some, diminishing others. This exploration of a critical incident and the administrative choices surrounding it illuminates how tools such as mediation can be appropriated as a tool for institutional violence rather than expanding a democratic dialogue.

L'imaginaire masculin et la soumission des vassales dans le Royaume Latin de Jérusalem vers 1200: un jalon supplémentaire dans l'histoire de la violence symbolique envers les femmes

The particular circumstances concerning the survival of the Latin kingdom and the pivotal importance of military matters determined the priorities of its ruler. Above all, he needed to ensure effective and complete feudal service as well as the loyalty of all his vassals. This article reveals the originality of some of the clauses found in the Livre au Roi, a custumal on feudal law composed around 1200, demonstrating that its compiler did not shrink from innovating in this area in his intention of giving the monarchy the juridical basis necessary for political centralisation. By examining closely four specific examples from the Livre, which deal with noblewomen (the service of marriage of unmarried heiresses; the remarriage of widows; the rights of wives of heretical and apostate knights; and the fate of wives of knights suffering from leprosy), this analysis of the Livre au Roi shows how the monarchy of Outremer sought to strengthen its domination over noble families by manipulating the fragile status of vassals in the Latin kingdom. As the discussion sheds light on the notion of symbolic violence against women, it can also reveal much about perceptions and representations of women and of their bodies in the middle ages, as well as how male domination was, as a consequence, reinforced.

De l’idéologie à la violence symbolique : culture, classe et conscience chez Marx et Bourdieu

This article offers a critical examination of Marx 's and Bourdieu' s theories of culture, consciousness, and ideology, briefly charting their development and counterposing their core conceptual elements. Both the merits and the limits of Marx 's views, focused in turn on aliened consciousness, the imposition of the ideas of the ruling class, and commodity fetishism, are traced back to hi s objectivist rupture with idealism and subjective representations Bourdieu's subsequent attempt to theorize the relative autonomy ant structuring potency of culture by reintegrating representations into a fuller model centered on the notions of symbolic violence, field, and habitus, ant highlighting classification struggles in everyday life and the legitimating function of high culture, is outlined.