Forms of Capital in Navigating Health and Welfare Services for Disabled Children: Parental Resources and Institutional Demands.

Abstract

This article examines how differences in forms of capital shape families' experience of navigating complex health and welfare institutions within a system formally committed to equality and universal provision. Using Bourdieu's theory of capital, this study explores how parents of disabled children in Norway mobilise various resources to access, coordinate and manage health and welfare services. Based on qualitative interviews with 21 families, the analysis shows how these forms of capital function as both enabling and constraining mechanisms. Cultural capital supports alignment with bureaucratic expectations. Social capital provides access to practical support and insider knowledge. Economic capital offers flexibility and helps fill gaps where services fall short. Crucially, the ability to activate these resources depends on families' mental and physical stamina. This article shows how the navigation of health and welfare services is shaped by the interaction between institutional structures and families' capacity to mobilise resources, producing socially patterned differences in how the process unfolds.