This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Edwards, C. Articles by Imrie, R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Disability and Bodies as Bearers of Value

Department for Work and Pensions, London

Rob Imrie

Royal Holloway University of London

This article considers the relevance of Pierre Bourdieu's conceptions of the body to the development of disability theory. We begin by discussing the limitations of reductive conceptions of disability. In so doing, we consider how far Bourdieu's (1990) concept of habitus offers a way of bringing an analysis of the body to bear upon an understanding of the social inequalities which are core to the lives of disabled people. Through focus groups with disabled people, the article explores aspects of disabled people's corporeal identities, feelings and (embodied) encounters in a range of social settings. The research shows that disabled people's lives are connected to different `valuations' attributed to corporeal forms, and to systems of signification and representation, which underpin them. We conclude by reaffirming the need to consider Bourdieu's ideas in helping in the development of disability theory.

Key Words: bodies • Bourdieu • disability • habitus • symbolic violence

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. M. Vehkakoski Newborns With an Impairment: Discourses of Hospital Staff Qual Health Res, March 1, 2007; 17(3): 288 - 299. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. P. Wainwright, C. Williams, and B. S. Turner Varieties of habitus and the embodiment of ballet Qualitative Research, November 1, 2006; 6(4): 535 - 558. [Abstract] [PDF]

				G. Payne and M. Williams Generalization in Qualitative Research Sociology, April 1, 2005; 39(2): 295 - 314. [Abstract] [PDF]

				C. Allen Bourdieu's Habitus, Social Class and the Spatial Worlds of Visually Impaired Children Urban Stud, March 1, 2004; 41(3): 487 - 506. [Abstract] [PDF]