Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.
Br J Sociol. 2012 Sep;63(3):472-90. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-4446.2012.01420.x.
This paper is about the struggle for value by those who live intensified devaluation in the new conditions of legitimation and self-formation, by which the self is required to repeatedly reveal its value through its accrual and investment in economic, symbolic, social and cultural capitals. It explores how this value struggle is experienced: felt affectively, known and spoken through discourses of injustice. Drawing on a small research project, which uses the British New Labour government's Respect Agenda as an evocative device to provoke discussion, the paper details how those positioned as already marginal to the dominant symbolic, presented as 'useless' subjects rather than 'subjects of value' of the nation, generate alternative ways for making value. It examines how the experience of injustice generates affective responses expressed as 'ugly-feelings'. The conversion of these 'ugly feelings' into articulations of 'just-talk' reveals how different understandings of value, of what matters and what counts, come into effect and circulate alongside the dominant symbolic. The issue that most angered working-class respondents is how they are positioned, judged, blamed and held responsible for an inheritance over which they have no control, 'an accident of birth'. They were acutely aware of how they were constantly judged and de-legitimated and how practices such as selfishness and greed were legitimate for others. Showing how they refuse to authorize those they consider lacking in value but with authority and in a position to judge, the paper demonstrates how class relations are lived through a struggle, not only against economic limitation but a struggle against unjustifiable judgment and authority and for dignified relationality. The paper reveals a struggle at the very core of ontology, demonstrating how the denigrated defend and make their lives liveable; an issue at the heart of current austerity politics which may have increased significance for the future.
这篇论文探讨了那些在合法化和自我形成的新条件下经历严重贬值的人，为了证明自己的价值，他们需要通过不断积累和投资经济、符号、社会和文化资本来展示自己的价值。本文探讨了这种价值斗争是如何被体验的：通过不公正话语的情感感受、认知和表达。本文以一个小型研究项目为基础，该项目使用英国新工党政府的“尊重议程”作为一个唤起讨论的工具，详细说明了那些被认为已经处于主导符号的边缘，被描述为“无用”的主体而不是国家的“有价值”主体的人，是如何创造价值的。本文研究了不公正的经历如何产生情感反应，表现为“丑陋的感觉”。这些“丑陋的感觉”转化为“公正的谈话”的表达，揭示了不同的价值观、重要的和有价值的东西是如何生效的，以及与主导符号一起流通的。最让工人阶级受访者愤怒的问题是，他们如何被定位、评判、指责和对他们无法控制的遗产负责，“这是出生的意外”。他们敏锐地意识到自己是如何不断被评判和剥夺合法性的，以及自私和贪婪等行为对其他人来说是合法的。本文通过展示他们如何拒绝授权那些他们认为缺乏价值但拥有权威和评判权的人，证明了阶级关系是如何通过斗争来体现的，不仅是为了对抗经济限制，也是为了反对不合理的判断和权威，以及为了有尊严的关系。本文揭示了本体论核心的一场斗争，展示了被诋毁的人如何为自己的生活辩护；这是当前紧缩政治的核心问题，对未来可能具有更大的意义。
