Prestige concept reconsidered. Hybridity of prestige in post-socialist biomedical profession

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Date

2010

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Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Uludağ Üniversitesi

Abstract

This article re-considers the applicability of the concept of prestige by focusing on a post-socialist context as the site of particularly rapid social change and renegotiation of social relationships. I argue against the assumption that the biomedical profession in post-socialist societies is not prestigious. My ethnographic data suggest that the search for the economic capital reflects not only desire of physical comfort, but just as importantly, desire for re-negotiated social status in the context where relationships between social classes change. The concept of prestige emerges as a nuanced process rather than static notion, underlying the multiple factors influencing post-socialist physicians’ status.

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Keywords

Prestige, Social capital, Hybridity, Biomedical profession, Post-socialism

Citation

Bazylevych, M. Y. (2010). "Prestige concept reconsidered. Hybridity of prestige in post-socialist biomedical profession". International Journal of Social Inquiry, 3(2), 75-99.