The particularity of the universal: critical reflections on Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic power and the state

A critical review of Bourdieu’s theory of the state is developed here against the backdrop of both his wider theoretical project and empirical studies. Elaborating the concepts of symbolic capital, symbolic violence, and symbolic domination, the centrality that Bourdieu accords to symbolic forms is compared to benchmark Weberian accounts that start with the state monopoly of violence. Reviewing also some of the burgeoning secondary literature discussing his theory of the state, Bourdieu’s writings, which encompass various antinomies, are shown to vacillate between two distinct perspectives—a strong and a weak theory of the state. His rejection of the “physicalist” approaches of Marx, Elias, and Tilly is elaborated and subject to a counter-critique, particularly in relation to the notion of symbolic “violence.” Bourdieu’s account of the state is shown to be as much a political as theoretical intervention. His antagonism towards Marxist accounts in particular is shown to be rooted in a pragmatic interest in the role of the “left hand of the state” in progressive reform; and this perspective is traced back to the twin influences of Durkheim and Hegel, French republicanism, and in particular the potential of the state to express a universal interest. At the same time, compared with sophisticated Marxist and Weberian accounts and the work of Norbert Elias and Gramsci, Bourdieu’s theory is shown to be severely lacking in the way that he deals with violence and coercion. His “expanded materialism,” particularly with the “strong theory,” bends the stick too far and overplays the symbolic basis of consent. Nevertheless, Bourdieu’s insights with regard to the pervasive influences of state practices of classification, taxonomy, delegation, and naming are shown to have real utility with regard to focused empirical investigations of the state in modern societies.     

The manager's role in employees' successful return to work following back injury

Abstract

This study reports on the short-term effects of an educational programme for immediate supervisors on employees' back pain problems. The course was designed to help supervisors more efficiently deal with employees returning to work after being treated for back pain. Forty-seven supervisors who had personnel either undergoing treatment for back pain problems or were candidates for this treatment were invited to attend a one-day course. This educational package consisted of information about back pain and stressed specific behaviours which supervisors could use to help their employees successfully return to work. The results showed that 78% of the supervisors found the course to be satisfactory enough to recommend it to a colleague without hesitation. Furthermore, independent ratings made by the supervisors and their employees suggested that supervisors complied with the recommended programme. Returning employees, moreover, gave their supervisors significantly higher ratings of support than a control group whose supervisors had not attended the educational programme. It was concluded that an educational programme which alters specific supervisory behaviours may be an effective method of assisting employee return to work after treatment for back pain. Further research is needed to determine the long-term effects of such a programme on absenteeism due to illness.     

Variable order ante-dependence models

Ante-dependence models can be used to model the covariance structure in problems involving repeated measures through time. They are conditional regression models which generalize Gabriel’s constant-order ante-dependence model. Likelihood-based procedures are presented, together with simple expressions for likelihood ratio test statistics in terms of sum of squares from appropriate analysis of covariance. The estimation of the orders is approached as a model selection problem, and penalized likelihood criteria are suggested. Extensions of all procedures discussed here to situations with a monotone pattern of missing data are presented.     

Occupation and Suicide

Objective . Research on occupation and suicide has neglected multivariate models. It is not clear, for example, if persons in alleged "high-risk" occupations have high suicide risk because of occupational stress associated with the occupation or because of the demographic composition of the people in the occupation. The present study explores the relationship between occupation and suicide for 32 occupational groups. Methods . Data are from the national mortality file tapes, which cover 21 states. They refer to 9,499 suicides and 134,386 deaths from all other causes in 1990. Results . Bivariate logistic regression models find a total of 15 occupations with either significantly higher (e.g., dentists, artists, machinists, auto mechanics, and carpenters) or lower (e.g., clerks, elementary school teachers, cooks) risk than the rest of the working-age population. Multivariate models that remove the demographic covariates of occupation find only eight occupations with greater or lower than expected risk of death by suicide. Conclusion . The results underscore the need for demographic controls in the assessment of occupational risk of suicide. They are consistent with a previous study based on data from England. The findings provide the first systematic evidence on the problem for the United States.     

Prior elicitation in the classification problem

Results are developed concerning the asymptotic behaviour of the Bayes classification rule as the number of unclassified observations grows without bound. It is shown that unclassified observations serve only to estimate the individual population parameters in an unlabeled sense and do not provide information about the labels that are attached to the populations. Prior construction is approached through investigation of prior odds over regions of the joint parameter space (across all populations) deemed likely to contain the true joint parameter vector. It is shown that consideration of these prior odds can lead to more robust a posteriori classification of individual observations.     

Proposed best practice for statisticians in the reporting and publication of pharmaceutical industry‐sponsored clinical trials

In this paper we set out what we consider to be a set of best practices for statisticians in the reporting of pharmaceutical industry‐sponsored clinical trials. We make eight recommendations covering: author responsibilities and recognition; publication timing; conflicts of interest; freedom to act; full author access to data; trial registration and independent review. These recommendations are made in the context of the prominent role played by statisticians in the design, conduct, analysis and reporting of pharmaceutical sponsored trials and the perception of the reporting of these trials in the wider community. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The human development spectrum: Sub-spectra and social indicators for use in development project planning,design, and implementation

A spectrum of human development has been observed which has application in international development project planning, design, and implementation. Based on experience with privately funded development projects in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, seven components or sub-spectra of the human development spectrum which are vital to effective development projects are identified: need, resources, technology, social conscience, integrity, attitude, and problem solving. Their implications for the development process are explained, and indicators for each sub-spectrum are described.     

Reinforcement,stereotypy, and rule discovery

The effects of reinforced pretraining on subsequent rule discovery were examined with college students as subjects. Levels of behavioral stereotypy observed during reinforced and non-contingent pretraining were compared. During pretraining subjects received reinforcement if they pressed two keys in a particular sequence. During the problem session pressing each key four times was a necessary condition for reinforcement, but each problem had additional different requirements for reinforcement. Subjects were asked to solve the problems by discovering the rule that determined whether or not they received reinforcement. Levels of stereotyped responding during pretraining were equivalent for contingently and non-contingently trained subjects. During the problem session contingently pretrained, non-contingently pretrained, and naive subjects required equal numbers of trials to solve problems and solved the same number of problems. The results suggest that behavioral stereotypy observed in this experimental preparation may be due to repeated exposure to the task. Differences between the results observed in this study and that of Schwartz (1982) and implications for the use of reinforcement procedures in applied settings are discussed.