Date: Sat, 06 Mar 1999 10:35:53 -0600
From: Deborah Kilgore <kilgore-AT-unix.tamu.edu>
Subject: Re: Bourdieu and AA


i think this will be a very interesting project.  i'm in the middle of a
project and attempting to characterize a year long discussion/learning
group of women in prison using the Bourdieu framework.  many of these
women are drug addicts and alcoholics and i find this aspect to be a
somewhat complicating factor.  once addiction takes hold, i guess you
could call it habitus, but it is the less interesting part of habitus;
the compulsion absolutely does not change its form from field to field. 
i'm open to argument here, since i've been somewhat avoiding this issue
in my reflections on this research.

you might argue that a white middle class at least somewhat christian
man is better served by AA than others.  you can find race-based
critiques of AA, as well as literature on the North American
alternative, Women For Sobriety (see, e.g., "A road less traveled:
Choosing the "women for Sobriety" program" in Journal of Drug Issues 26,
pp. 77-94. Winter 96 (i'm sorry don't have the author name on hand)).

there is a great deal of literature on AA itself as a social movement
that I think is interesting; a library search will come up with many of
these articles.  Further, K.T. Elsdon has done a great deal of research
on learning in voluntary organizations.  from what i understand,
Bourdieu has a fair amount to say aobut social movements, so if you were
to look at it this way, you might draw some analogs.

Keep us informed, as I'm quite interested in what you find!


Stefan Horarik wrote:
> 
> Hi everybody,
> 
> I am gathering materials for a thesis in which I aim to characterise
> the process of recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous through concepts of
> habitus, field, and illusio. <snip>
***********************
Deborah Kilgore     
Texas A&M University
Fue tan bello vivir cuando vivias!
How lovely it was to live while you lived!
- Pablo Neruda, from "Final"
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