Symbolic struggles and steel production in the Amazon

an interpretation based on Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the use of sociology developed by Pierre Bourdieu to analyze the functioning of economic fields, paying special attention to the role played by symbolic struggles in shaping these fields. Based on research carried out on the steel industry in the Brazilian Amazon, an activity subject to strong social contestation, I analyze the development of symbolic investments made by certain companies, to face criticism of the use of slave labor in the charcoal supply chain and to position themselves in the debate on the need to decarbonize steel production, through the construction of so-called “green steel”. Based on this example of theory applied in research, I seek to show the fruitfulness of field theory for the study of economic facts, as an approach capable of accounting for the dynamic relationships that are established between companies and other agents that participate in the economic field, based on the scrutiny of the different types of assets (capital) held by each of them.