Starting from the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu, Schäfer composes a methodical approach to habitus of social actors and the logic of their praxis: Building upon the generative terms of praxeology, he focuses on identity and strategy in processes of internalization, their transformation by means of dispositional schemes, and their externalization in action. The emphasis lies on a theory of dispositions that allows a flexible understanding of identity and strategy formation in the context of social experience and the interplay with social structures. This theory is developed over the course of a three-step analysis on habitus as a network of dispositions, on the dynamics that unfold between the logic of socio-structural processes and practical logic, and on the praxeological assessment of social structures via models of fields and the social space.This book is the second of three volumes of HabitusAnalysis. While the first volume deals with the epistemological underpinnings of praxeology, this book advances Bourdieu's theory with a special focus on creativity of action in the context of social structures, thereby preparing the methodological design of empirical models in the third volume.

Making Religion provides a unique overview of theoretical and practical aspects of the discursive study of religion. Leading scholars in the field discuss the opportunities and challenges of discourse analysis and its application in the study of religion.

This book is the first of three volumes of HabitusAnalysis that take the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu as a starting point to develop a methodical approach to the habitus of social actors. However, the concept of habitus and Bourdieu’s approach to language are somewhat disputed while his relationist epistemology is seldom paid tribute to. The present volume therefore in its first part deals with Bourdieu’s roots in relationist Neo-Kantian philosophy, the basic traits of his relationist sociology. The second part examines Bourdieu’s theoretical and empirical work on language before elaborating its own praxeological concept of language use that opens the road to a methodically and theoretically sound reconstruction of the habitus of social actors. In the second volume of HabitusAnalysis we will carefully re-read Bourdieu’s theory in order to develop a disposition-based theory of the habitus that emphasizes the creative potential of the linkage between mental orientations and socio-structural processes, classification and classes, as well as dispositions and positions. The method presented in the third volume will facilitate a detailed empirical analysis of the creative transformations operated by the habitus in relation with the social structures of domination and the dynamics of social differentiation.

Transformative Fictions: World Literature and Personal Change engages with current debates in world literature over the past twenty years, addressing the nature of literary influence in centers and peripheries, the formation of transnational literary and pedagogical canons, and the role of translation and regionalism in how we relate to texts from around the globe. The author, Daniel Just, argues for a supranational but sub-global perspective of regions that emphasizes practical reasons for reading and focuses on the potential of literary texts to stimulate personal transformation in readers. One of the recurring dilemmas in these debates is the issue of delimitation of world literature. The trouble with the world as a frame of reference is that no single researcher is bound to have the in-depth knowledge and linguistic skills to discuss works from all countries. In response, this book revives literary theory and recasts it for the purposes of world literature, by making a case for the continuing relevance of literature in the age of new media. With the examples of fictional and nonfictional writings by Milan Kundera, Witold Gombrowicz and Bohumil Hrabal, Just shows that regional literatures offer differing methods of activating readers and thereby prompting personal change. This book would be of general interest to anyone who wants to explore personal change through literature but is particularly indispensable for literary professionals, researchers, and postgraduate and graduate students.

Religions are increasingly being regarded as relevant partners in international development cooperation due to their special attributes. However, to date there has been little research into what the special attributes of religious development agencies actually are or how such organisations employ them. What resources do religious NGOs draw on in development cooperation? How do such NGOs differ from other development agencies? Does their engagement make a considerable difference to collaborative development work? Using empirical case studies and theoretical analysis, the contributions in this book address these questions. In doing so, they examine different religions and their collaborative development work in various regions of the world, and chart the most recent changes in religions. With contributions by Jeffrey Haynes, Katherine Marshall, Andreas Heuser, Jens Koehrsen, Dena Freeman, Richard Friedli, Wilhelm Gräb, Ulrich Dehn, Marie Juul Petersen, Claudia Hoffmann, Sinah Theres Kloß, Yonatan N. Gez, Katrin Langewiesche, Suwarto Adi, Ido Benvenisti, Christine Schliesser, Leif H. Seibert, Philipp Öhlmann, Marie-Luise Frost, Adi Maya.

This book provides an in-depth view on Bourdieu’s empirical work, thereby specially focusing on the construction of the social space and including the concept of the habitus. Themes described in the book include amongst others: • the theory and methodology for the construction of “social spaces”, • the relation between various “fields” and “the field of power”, • formal construction and empirical observation of habitus, • the formation, accumulation, differentiation of and conversion between different forms of capital, • relations in geometric data analysis. The book also includes contributions regarding particular applications of Bourdieu’s methodology to traditional and new areas of research, such as the analysis of institutional, international and transnational fields. It further provides a systematic introduction into the empirical construction of the social space.