The Weight of the World

Social Suffering in Contemporary Society. A major new work by Pierre Bourdieu and his associates: Bourdieu is one of the leading sociologists in the world today. This book documents the accounts of ordinary people as they struggle to survive and to make ends meet, describing the forms of social suffering, hopelessness and despair which are pervasive features of life on the margins. This book can be read like a series of short stories - the story of a steel worker who was laid off after twenty years in the same factory and who now struggles to support his family on unemployment benefits and a part-time job; the story of a trade unionist who finds his goals undermined by the changing nature of work; the story of a family from Algeria living in a housing estate in the outskirts of Paris whose members have to cope with pervasive, everyday forms of racism; the story of a school teacher confronted with urban violence; and many others as well. Reading these stories enables one to understand these people's lives and the forms of social suffering which are part of them. And the reader will see that this book offers not only a distinctive method for analysing social life, but also another way of practising politics.

Pages: 656

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