Theoretical and Methodological Observations on an Interdisciplinary Approach. Gender and the Working Class in Literature

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to the theoretical and methodological discussions within the field of New Working Studies by critically examining the terms of conducting intersectional research. In the first part, we present in a concise manner the pertinent argumentation within Social Sciences, while also tracing the origins and the evolution, as well as the challenges and ambiguities, of such ventures. In the second, we provide an overview of intersectional approaches which adopt and critically re-elaborate Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological schema and theory, by tapping into the concepts of ‘capital’, ‘habitus’ and “symbolic violence” as a means of examining the formation and mutations of identity. In the final part, we discuss the possibility of articulating a Bourdieu-inspired intersectional approaches for the analysis of working-class literature and assess their validity and potential.