This paper deals with caring and emotional relations as analytical categories for understanding how social inequality is constructed and constituted within different micro spheres of social life. In this context, the author explores the notion of emotional resources, which has been less researched in sociology than conventional notions of economic, political and symbolic resources, and points out their relevance for the individual's well-being, behaviour, personal goals and life chances. Special attention is paid to two forms of inequality: differential access to positive emotional bonds and care, and unequal distribution of care work and emotional work of care within the family. It is suggested that, in order to further understanding of social inequality, Bourdieu's concept of capital needs to be extended to take account of emotional relations (in terms of caring) as both generative and reflective of social and economic stratification.
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