Sen and Bourdieu: understanding inequality

How does the thinking of Amartya Sen, and especially of Pierre Bourdieu, help us to understand the processes and experience of inequality?

This paper considers Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach and Bourdieu’s concepts of field, forms of capital and habitus. It draws on a joint longitudinal study that examines the employment, retention and advancement of low-paid workers in Australia, with particular attention to their motivations and aspirations as they move in and out of paid work.