Ciaran Burke

The Biographical Illumination: A Bourdieusian Analysis of the Role of Theory in Educational Research

The intention of this paper is to serve as a reflexive comment as to my ongoing empirical processes and epistemological position concerning research on university graduates’ aspirations and expectations of graduate employment. This paper will illustrate the inevitable role of social theory in empirical research, and from a Bourdieusian position, consider the use of theory in creating a break with common sense, the danger of replacing common sense with learned bias, and processes that may aid to avoid this problematic issue. Using educational research as a tangible basis, this paper will discuss the empirical application of the habitus in creating a break with common sense, whilst not losing itself to social theory. However, in an effort to depart from simply offering a comment on the need for the application of theory in educational research, this paper intends to demonstrate how the neo-positivist biographical narrative interview method can, contrary to BOURDIEUs (1987) comments, illuminate the habitus, offering an opportunity for its empirical application in educational research and also for the wider academy.

‘Graduate Blues’: Considering the Effects of Inverted Symbolic Violence on Underemployed Middle Class Graduates

The understanding of social reproduction, from a Bourdieusian perspective, is that the dominant typically reproduce their position in social space through various apparatus, such as the education system, to the detriment of the dominated group, who are unable to leave their own position, characterised by inequality and suffering. A key tool in achieving social reproduction is the process of symbolic violence; however, this article considers the effects of inverted symbolic violence. By following the trajectories of two middle class university graduates, this article will demonstrate the detrimental effect inverted symbolic violence has on their graduate employment trajectories. Respondents are depicted as having inflated subjective expectations incompatible with current objective realities within the labour market, resulting in a relatively downward, or unsuccessful, trajectory.

Habitus and Graduate Employment: A Re/Structured Structure and the Role of Biographical Research

For Thomas Kuhn, sociology cannot be a science; there are too many sub-groups and competing perspectives to form a sociological paradigm. While this ‘infighting’ precludes our inclusion into this particular notion of science, it can be argued that it is exactly what gives the social sciences their strength. The fact that researchers will constantly refine, contradict, refute and occasionally even agree, all in the pursuit of greater understanding and representation, points to a dynamic science unafraid to ask questions of itself and of each other. A good example of our dynamism is Pierre Bourdieu, one of the most celebrated and applied social thinkers of the latter half of the 20th century. Bourdieuian social theory is still a niche — albeit a popular niche — and, as such, I am constantly presented with questions from colleagues and students asking why I subscribe to social theory and to this particular theoretical heritage. My answer varies in length depending on the audience and intent of their cross-examination. Social theory, as Stephen Ball once put it, is the language of ‘rigour’ (1995, p. 266); it is what directs empirical inquiry and helps us to make sense of it. Social theory is one of the most important items in the toolbox and should not be avoided. That is the ‘easy’ half of the question; turning to why I choose Bourdieu becomes more complicated, as is his theory and the subsequent application.

Capturing habitus: theory, method and reflexivity.

ABSTRACT Bourdieu’s career long endeavour was to devise both theoretical and methodological tools that could apprehend and explain the social world and its mechanisms of cultural (re)production and related forms of domination. Amongst the several key concepts developed by Bourdieu, habitus has gained prominence as both a research lens and a research instrument useful to enter individuals’ trajectories and ‘histories’ of practices. While much attention has been paid to the theoretical significance of habitus, less emphasis has been placed on its methodological implications. This paper explores the application of the concept of habitus as both theory and method across two sub-fields of educational research: graduate employment and digital scholarship practices. The findings of this reflexive testing of habitus suggest that bridging the theory-method comes with its own set of challenges for the researcher; challenges which reveal the importance of taking the work of application seriously in research settings.