Political power as symbolic capital and symbolic violence

This article discusses the possibility of the simultaneous existence of inclusion/empowerment and exclusion/dominance within the practices of everyday political participation. Taking a point of departure in the Bourdieusian approach to practice and symbolic power, the article first constructs a theoretical framework for studying political practices and power as both symbolic capital and symbolic violence. Secondly, results from a qualitative research project are presented, making it possible to trace and follow the logics of political habitus and the symbolic classifications of democratic practices, and explore how mechanisms of symbolic bondaries and misrecognition work to produce both elements of inclusion and exclusion.