Karen O'Reilly

I spent a really enjoyable day at the BSA Bourdieu Study Group Event: Bourdieu in Migration and ‘Race’/Ethnicity Studies last week. Please read more about it here:

I presented the paper I had written with Caroline Oliver in Sociology quite a while ago now, which uses Bourdieu to argue that, despite appearances and rhetoric to the contrary, social class is reproduced over time in the particular migration trend. I then discussed how Bourdieu can be used to take ethnographic studies beyond the immediate context to include the wider and historical context of structural constraints and opportunities, how they interact with social actions, and the outcomes that emerge over time. In other words, recalling the relevance of Bourdieu’s theory of practice for ethnographic practice.

Oliver, C. and O’Reilly, K (2010). A Bourdieusian Analysis of Class and Migration: habitus and the individualising process. Sociology, 44(1): 49-66