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Engaging with Bourdieu: A Review of the Utilization of Bourdieu Within Children and Young People’s Geographies

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Establishing Geographies of Children and Young People

Part of the book series: Geographies of Children and Young People ((GCYP,volume 1))

Abstract

While the work of Pierre Bourdieu has had a significant impact on the fields of anthropology, educational research, and cultural studies, his ideas have much less commonly been used by geographers. In this chapter, the authors review Bourdieu’s central concepts and ideas and then examine how Bourdieu has been utilized within research in children and young people’s geographies to enhance understandings of children, space, and social justice. This analysis reveals that singular concepts of Bourdieu’s (social and cultural capital) have been applied with some frequency but that his integrated conceptual triad or complete theory of practice has much less commonly been used. The chapter concludes with some examples of how more in-depth approaches through Bourdieu could support richer understandings of children and young people’s geographies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Christina R. Ergler

  2. Faculty of Education, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    Bronwyn E. Wood

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  1. Christina R. Ergler
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  2. Bronwyn E. Wood
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Correspondence to Christina R. Ergler .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Tracey Skelton

  2. Department of Geography, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA

    Stuart Aitken

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Ergler, C.R., Wood, B.E. (2018). Engaging with Bourdieu: A Review of the Utilization of Bourdieu Within Children and Young People’s Geographies. In: Skelton, T., Aitken, S. (eds) Establishing Geographies of Children and Young People. Geographies of Children and Young People, vol 1. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4585-88-0_13-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4585-88-0_13-1

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