Bourdieu conceptualises most aspects of social life in terms of
fields,
which constitute sites of struggle over a central stake. The resources
which are used in these struggles, and whose appropriation is at stake,
are defined as types of capital: economic, cultural, social and
symbolic.
Each field involves a set of players, of agents who are engaged in practices
and strategies on the basis of an habitus. It is contended in
this article that
such an approach can be usefully mobilised to develop a sociological
analysis of welfare. The model has to be slightly altered to make it more
adequate for the study of the welfare field. First, what Bourdieu calls
political
capital is given a more prominent place. Secondly, the focus is more
definitely set on the rates at which types of capital are converted in
the
welfare field. It is argued that such a model satisfies the central requirements
of a sociology of welfare, in that it places welfare activities within
the wider social context while grasping their internal dynamic. It provides
an effective framework for addressing the main questions which are
raised by a sociology of welfare.