European inventory of
societal values of culture

Hugrée, Pénissat, Spire & Hjellbrekke - Class Boundaries in Europe

Hugrée, C., Pénissat, E., Spire, A., & Hjellbrekke, J. (2023). Class Boundaries in Europe. The Bourdieusian Approach in Perspective. Routledge. ISBN 9781032122694

This book provides an insight into the changing nature of class boundaries in Europe. It puts at the centre of the analysis the diversity of the workforce in different national contexts and at the European level. Examples are taken from case studies from Norway, Hungary, Poland, the UK, Greece, Germany, Portugal, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, and Sweden. Parts of the analyses are situated at the European level, providing a comparison between national situations.

Based on the Bourdieusian notion of social space, which is an encompassing analytical tool, this set of contributions extensively uses socioeconomic class schemes and various descriptors of workforce diversity in order to understand political and cultural dynamics, which are always to some degree embedded in complex class relations. These tools are relevant for cultural policy, as ways to connect cultural action to the concrete living and working conditions of particular groups.