Browsing by Subject "social capital"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Open Access
Poor but not in despair : an investigation of low-income consumers coping with poverty
(2012) Yücel, Gül
This thesis explores mechanisms low-income consumers use to cope with material constraints and increasing pressure of consumer culture. Data were collected through qualitative research methods and draw upon twenty-two female low-income consumers. Findings suggest that consumption restrictions do not always end up with severe negative consequences because of mainly four factors. These factors affect low-income consumers’ approach to poverty and provide mechanisms to low-income consumers to cope with consumption restrictions. First, many of the informants cope with material constraints by redefining the meanings of poverty and proactively resisting consumer culture through utilizing religious discourses and norms. Second, structural issues such as their roots in village and living with people who have similar backgrounds affect the intensity of felt deprivation and their coping in the city. Third, low-income consumers find unconventional ways of meeting their needs and wants through effective and creative uses of their resources. Lastly, those who receive or accept social support are better able to handle material restrictions. Lowincome consumers use community ties to boost their identities and differentiate themselves from affluent consumers. The thesis ends with a discussion of contributions, implications, limitations, and future research directions.
Open Access
The lesser of two evils: approaching trust with Bourdieu’s habitus
(Routledge, 2023-05-23) Ma, Jermaine S.
In this paper I borrow from sociological scholars and theories in order to approach trust(ing) with Bourdieu's habitus. I demonstrate the use of a conceptual framework comprised of three sociological theories in the context of a subset of women in urbanising Türkiye who belong to, what I call, a gecekondu habitus. Throughout this paper I discuss the necessity of viewing interpersonal trust in the context of lived experiences, which enables us to see the nuanced ways trust might express itself in unexpected ways. Specifically, I suggest that utilising Bourdieu's habitus is one way to centre and situate context in trust research. By using Bourdieu's habitus along with theories of social reproduction and social capital I position my study on interpersonal trust in context, elucidate the gecekondu habitus, and with empirical examples illuminate nuances of trust and vulnerability noting its embeddedness in social networks. Ultimately in this paper I show how layering sociological theories as lenses highlights a nuanced view of trusting for women that expresses itself in two ways: (1) trust as choosing between vulnerabilities in difficult choices; and (2) the process of trusting (in assessing trustworthiness) functioning similarly to social capital a la Bourdieu and Coleman.