Strategies and tactics in social space: The case of Serbia

Abstract

The aim of this article is to bring together quantitative and qualitative methodologies in order to examine, within a broadly Bourdieusian theoretical framework, connections between positions in social space and strategies agents deploy in their everyday life. The data are derived from a study of social structure in today’s Serbia, combining survey and interviews with selected respondents. Strategies are conceptualized as a continuum ranging from a more sustained and cumulative, or ‘strategic’, pole to the unsystematic, ephemeral ‘tactical’ pole, as suggested by Michel de Certeau. On the basis of interview data, four types of life strategies are identified (individualist reactive, individualist proactive, collectivist reactive, and collectivist proactive). These strategies are presented through their generic practices and the typical habitus of the agents, along with individual portraits as illustrations. In conclusion, some theoretical implications are derived from data analysis, including departures from Bourdieu’s model.

Getting things done: Inequalities, Internet use and everyday life

“…In contrast, we found a small group of individuals showing high rates of use of a broad range of alternatives (labelled as 'everything'), combining official channels, social networks, media and Internet in various forms regardless of the issue. These users are flexible in choosing from among the broad range of strategies to solve the problems at hand, combining individualistic (personal research) and collectivist (contacts) strategies in what is likely to be a proactive manner (displaying a consistent use of similar strategies across different problems; Cvetičanin et al, 2014). In addition to 'traditionalists' and 'everything', we found two groups of varied size.…”

“…However, research on everyday inequalities has mainly focussed on the concept of 'strategies' as way to understand how people cope with unfavourable living conditions or maintain and improve economic positions (cf. Cvetičanin et al, 2014;Katz-Gerro et al, 2017). A different approach has been adopted by research interested in broader everyday strategies.…”

“…From the point of view of everyday information-seeking, Savolainen (1995) argues that an individual's habitus is as important as material equipment (capitals) to explain the adoption of certain information-seeking strategies for problem-solving. Cvetičanin et al (2014) elaborate on some of these ideas by developing a composite definition of strategy that combines Bourdieu's concept of strategies (sequential actions towards achieving a goal) and De Certeau's (1988) tactics (unpredictable actions that respond to and adapt to the environment). The authors argue that they are complementary, broadly defining strategies as 'relatively coherent patterns of behaviour in solving practical problem, specifically major life course issues, in various social fields' (Cvetičanin et al, 2014: 214).…”

“…going to a store to ask about mobile phones, calling a doctor or hospital in case of illness). This group is identified with strategies of an individualist nature (low levels of interaction with friends, families and colleagues) that is reactive in scope (displaying an inconsistent set of strategies across each of the five arenas; Cvetičanin et al, 2014). In contrast, we found a small group of individuals showing high rates of use of a broad range of alternatives (labelled as 'everything'), combining official channels, social networks, media and Internet in various forms regardless of the issue.…”

“…While these are clearly important, research on the uses of the Internet has overlooked how 'strategies' for everyday mundane information seeking and practical problem-solving cement further privilege and inequality (cf. Bourdieu, 1990;Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1992;Cvetičanin et al, 2014;De Certeau 1988;Savolainen, 1995). In our context, these refer to ways people adapt to changing technological and social circumstances.…”