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An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology

An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology
By Pierre Bourdieu, Loïc Wacquant

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Product Description

Over the last three decades, the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has produced one of the most imaginative and subtle bodies of social theory and research of the post war era. Yet, despite the influence of his work, no single introduction to his wide-ranging oeuvre is available. This book, intended for an English-speaking audience, offers a systematic and accessible overview, providing interpretive keys to the internal logic of Bourdieu's work by explicating thematic and methodological principles underlying his work.

The structure of Bourdieu's theory of knowledge, practice, and society is first dissected by Loic Wacquant; he then collaborates with Bourdieu in a dialogue in which they discuss central concepts of Bourdieu's work, confront the main objections and criticisms his work has met, and outline Bourdieu's views of the relation of sociology to philosophy, economics, history, and politics. The final section captures Bourdieu in action in the seminar room as he addresses the topic of how to practice the craft of reflexive sociology. Throughout, they stress Bourdieu's emphasis on reflexivity—his inclusion of a theory of intellectual practice as an integral component of a theory of society—and on method—particularly his manner of posing problems that permits a transfer of knowledge from one area of inquiry into another.

Amplified by notes and an extensive bibliography, this synthetic view is essential reading for both students and advanced scholars.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #136695 in Books
  • Published on: 1992-07-15
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 348 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Pierre Bourdieu held the Chair of Sociology at the Collège de France, where he directed the Center for European Sociology, the journal Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, and the publishing house Raisons d’agir Editions until his death in 2002. He is one of the most influential social scientists of the twentieth century as well as a leading public intellectual involved in the global mobilization against neoliberalism. He is the author of numerous classics of sociology and anthropology. Among them are Reproduction in Education, Society, and Culture, Outline of a Theory of Practice, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste, Homo Academicus, The Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of the Artistic Field, and Pascalian Meditations. Loïc J. D. Wacquant is professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and researcher at the Centre de sociologie européenne, Paris. A MacArthur Foundation Fellow and recipient of the Lewis Coser Award of the American Sociological Association, his interests span urban marginality, embodiment, the penal state, ethnoracial domination, and social theory. His books have been translated in a dozen languages and include Body and Soul: Notebooks of An Apprentice Boxer, The Mystery of Ministry: Pierre Bourdieu and Democratic Politics, Urban Outcasts: A Comparative Sociology of Advanced Marginality, and Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity.

Customer Reviews

Essential social science5
I'm an aspiring historian, not a sociologist. Bourdieu's work, however, is of such a caliber that it transcends arbitrary academic boundaries. It's essential reading for anyone who's interested in the ontology and epistemology of humankind.

He's difficult to read, though. That's one of the reasons this book is so valuable. Loic Wacquant (no sociological slouch himself) has undertaken to provide an exposition of Bourdieu's ideas without trivializing them. Some of those ideas that struck a chord with me include replacing the false antinomy of structure/agent with notions of "field" and "habitus" (structure and agency's relationship to one another); cultural capital and symbolic power (more balanced perspectives on the philosophy/sociology of language); and the inherent bias of the intellectual qua intellectual (apart from race, class, etc).

Bourdieu is definitely postmodern, but once the reader grasps the technically precise language in which they are articulated, his ideas are surprisingly down-to-earth. P.B. would probably not much like that I write this--he abhors the intuitive in social science--but that's what comes of thinking well and writing carefully. This is a job well done by Wacquant. I highly recommend it for serious students.

Excellent introduction to a prodigious body of work5
This book consists of three parts. In the first part Wacquant offers a general summary of the key points and works in Bourdieu's oeuvre. The second part is an extremely entertaining interview with Bourdieu. Here, Bourdieu demonstrates that he is far from a cold scientist of social culture. Of particular interest, is Bourdieu's reflections on his book 'Homo Academus' which is an internal critique of the French Academy. In these passages, Bourdieu's comments reflect his passionate committment to his work, and in the ways that his own interest and investment in a social field must (somehow) become an object of reflection. Also, Bourdieu's comments reflect his great passion for art despite his own analysis of art strictly in terms of cultural capital and social status. At times, Bourdieu is dazzling. The final section is a transcription of a seminar, again, on the practice of sociology that remains conscientious of its position and limitations.

This book also includes an extensive bibliography of Bourdieu's writings up to 1992, as well as another bibliography of relevent external sources and commentaries.