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Challenging the field: Bourdieu and men’s health

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Abstract

This article considers how understandings of health promotion with men may be assisted by engagement with Bourdieu’s theoretical work. The article outlines leading concepts within Bourdieu’s work on ‘field’, ‘habitus’ and ‘capital’; considers subsequent critical debates among gender, feminist and sociological theorists around structure and agency; and links these to discussions within men’s health. A particular focus concerns structural disruption of, and movement of social actors between, ‘fields’ such as family, work and leisure settings. The article examines, through Bourdieu’s critical legacy, whether such disruption establishes conditions for transformative reflexivity among men in relation to previously held dispositions (habitus), including those inflected by masculinities, that affect men’s health practices. Recent work within Bourdieu’s heritage potentially facilitates a re-framing of understandings of men’s health practices. The article specifically explores masculine ambivalence within accounts of reflexivity, identities and practice, and considers how social and symbolic (masculine) capital are in play. Implications of Bourdieu’s leading concepts for theorising settings-focused approaches to men’s health promotion are exemplified with reference to a men’s health project in a football stadium leisure setting. The article considers the benefits and challenges of applying gendered critical insights drawing on Bourdieu’s work to men’s health promotion, and discusses emerging theoretical dilemmas.

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Notes

  1. The details of the study design and key findings are not provided here but can be found in the reference provided. The aim here is to use this empirical work to highlight the conceptual points under discussion.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of the Choose Life North Lanarkshire Co-ordinator and project steering group. We thank the members of the public for taking part in discussion groups for this evaluation.

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  1. School of Health and Wellbeing, Level 5, Calverley Building, Portland Way, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, LS1 3HE, UK

    Mark Robinson & Steve Robertson

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  1. Mark Robinson
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Robinson, M., Robertson, S. Challenging the field: Bourdieu and men’s health. Soc Theory Health 12, 339–360 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/sth.2014.8

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