The Weight of the World: Social Suffering in Contemporary Societies

Confined to their governmental ivory towers, and with their eyes fixed on the opinion polls, politicians and state officials are all too often oblivious to the lives of their citizens. On the other hand, the ordinary men and women who have so much hardship in their lives, and so few means to make themselves heard, either protest outside the official frameworks or remain locked in the silence of their despair. Under the direction of Pierre Bourdieu, a team of sociologists spent three years analysing the new forms of social suffering that characterize contemporary societies - the suffering of those who are denied the means of acquiring a socially dignified existence, as well as the suffering of those who are poorly adjusted to the rapidly changing condition of their lives. Declining housing estates, the school, the family, street-level state services, the everyday world of social workers and policemen, factory workers and white-collar clerks, the universe of farmers and artisans, of teachers and the unemployed and partly employed: these are just some of the spaces where conflict occurs, where specific discriminations and recriminations, tensions and contradictions abound and accumulate, and where new forms of suffering are produced. This book can be read like a series of short stories - the story of a steelworker 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 on a housing estate on the outskirts of Paris whose members have to cope with pervasive, everyday forms of racism; the story of a schoolteacher confronted with urban violence; and many others as well.

Translator's preface; Acknowledgements; To the reader Pierre Bourdieu; Part I. The Space of Points of View Pierre Bourdieu: 1. Jonquil street Pierre Bourdieu; 2. A displaced family Abdelmalek Sayad; 3. Everyone in a place of their own Rosine Christin; 4. The view from the media Patrick Champagne; 5. The order of things Pierre Bourdieu; 6. An integrated family Patrick Champagne; 7. A bad investment Gabrielle Balazs; 8. Rehabilitation Gabrielle Balazs; 9. The last difference Patrick Champagne; Part II. Site Effects Pierre Bourdieu: 10. America as social dystopia Loic J. D. Wacquant; 11. Inside 'the zone' Loic J. D. Wacquant; 12. Homeless in El Barrio Philippe Bourgois; Part III. Abdication of the State Pierre Bourdieu: 13. An impossible mission Pierre Bourdieu; 14. Institutional bad faith Pierre Bourdieu; 15. Double binds Pierre Bourdieu and Gabrielle Balazs; 16. The view from the state Patrick Champagne; 17. Disorder among agents of order Remi Lenoir; 18. Woman and cop Remi Lenoir; 19. A living reproach Remi Lenoir; Part IV. The Way Down: 20. Permanent and temporary workers Michel Pialoux and Stephane Beaud; 21. The old worker and the new plant Michel Pialoux; 22. The temp's dream Stephane Beaud; 23. Working nights Rosine Christin; 24. Possession Rosine Christin; 25. The end of a world Pierre Bourdieu; 26. The shop steward's world in disarray Michel Pialoux; 27. The stolen work Sandrine Garcia; 28. A silent witness Rosine Christin; 29. Such a fragile equilibrium Pierre Bourdieu and Gabrielle Balazs; 30. Hanging by a thread Pierre Bourdieu; 31. A life lost Pierre Bourdieu; 32. The fall Patrick Champagne; 33. Broken careers Louis Pinto; Part V. Outcasts on the Inside Pierre Bourdieu and Patrick Champagne: 34. Those were the days Pierre Bourdieu; 35. A paradise lost Sylvain Broccolichi; 36. Cogs in the machine Sylvain Broccolichi and Francoise Euvrard; 37. A double life Rosine Christin; 38. French class Rosine Christin; 39. The upper hand Sylvain Broccolichi; 40. Institutional violence Gabrielle Balazs and Abdelmalek Sayad; Part VI. The Contradictions of Inheritance Pierre Bourdieu: 41. Academic destiny Alain Accardo; 42. A compromising success Charles Soulie; 43. The spirit of contradiction Emmanuel Bourdieu and Denis Podalydes; 44. Wife and colleague Jean-Pierre Faguer; 45. The curse Abdelmalek Sayad; 46. Emancipation Abdelmalek Sayad; 47. The sick person as object Francois Bonvin; 48. Solitude Gabrielle Balazs; Part VII. Understanding Pierre Bourdieu: 49. Postscript Pierre Bourdieu; Glossary; Index.