1st Edition

Coping and Pulling Through Action Processes in Vulnerable Situations

By Vivianne Châtel Copyright 2004
    180 Pages
    by Routledge

    180 Pages
    by Routledge

    Originally published in 2004. Exclusion is a popular area of sociological research, with much analysis pointing towards survival practices and inclusion mechanisms as ways to cope with and confront exclusion. However, the question of what it means to act and how it is possible to do so from a vulnerable situation has yet to be properly addressed. This resourceful volume takes on this challenge, examining how to react and the measures to employ in instances of material and symbolic deprivation. It analyzes whether alliances can be formed and their potential benefit, and discusses which supports are available despite structural inequality and no opportunity for reciprocation. Drawing together illustrative case studies from across Europe, the contributors consider in depth how a community or individual can take support from a spoiled identity and transform both it and the physical situation. This illuminating volume also includes discussions of living without support, security of living conditions and dignity, claims for citizenship, collective action, continuity and survival. It proposes an innovative and groundbreaking theory for 'weak' action.

    Contents: Introduction, Vivianne Châtel and Marc-Henry Soulet; Acting in a situation of social vulnerability: constructing the problem, Vivianne Châtel; Capital thinking and social vulnerability: the effects of flexible assignation, Daniel Mercure; Individuals without supports, Robert Castel; Is the juridical establishment of the principle of the respect of human dignity effective?, Jacques Fierens; Reconstructive ethics, political justice and social vulnerability, Jean-Marc Ferry; Exclusion and assertion of citizenship, Giovanna Procacci; Occupational precariousness and political mobilisation, Serge Paugam; Continuity of identity and survival, Dani Laberge and Shirley Roy; Social action and domination, Franz Schultheis; Facing social vulnerability and coming through: towards a theory of weak acting, Marc-Henry Soulet; Index.

    Biography

    Vivianne Châtel, Senior Researcher in Sociology, University Paris V-La Sorbonne, (France) and University of Fribourg (Switzerland). Marc-Henry Soulet, Professor of Sociology, University of Fribourg (Switzerland).