Bourdieu

Main Objectives Overcome Objective/Subjective dichotomy (also Structure/Culture and Macro/Micro) Through Practice  Positions  Dispositions (“habitus”)  Position-taking (“practices”)

Position in Social Space as Capital  Economic capital – economic resources  Cultural capital – various kinds of legitimate knowledge  Social capital – the extent of the valued social relations possessed by an actor  Symbolic capital – amount of honor and prestige possessed by an actor

Habitus  The mental or cognitive structures through which people deal with the social world.  Internalized structure Structuring structure and a Structured structure  Flexible and constantly changing

Logic of Practice…  Is Practical Can sustain confused and seemingly illogical means, in part because it is relational  Is Not Formal Rational Formal logic of means-ends calculation is not how practical interactions are normally conducted

Field  Network of relations among the objective positions within it  Exist apart from individual consciousness and will  Actors in the field may be agents or institutions Fields do try to defend their turf

Analysis of Field Three step process  Trace relationship of field to political field  Map objective structure of relations among positions within the field  Determine nature of habitus of agents in various positions of the field (p. 270, Figure 19.1)

Conflict?  Strategies to maintain field dominance NOT conscious or preplanned ARE patterned and regular ARE guided by habitus  Symbolic violence – indirect form of violence practiced through cultural mechanisms (esp. education)

Social Reproduction (MacLeod) 1. Distinct cultural capital within each social class 2. Schools value upper class cultural capital 3. Academic achievement translates back into economic capital 4. School legitimates the process my making hierarchy appear merit based

Captial  Economic capital – economic resources  Cultural capital – various kinds of legitimate knowledge  Social capital – the extent of the valued social relations possessed by an actor  Symbolic capital – amount of honor and prestige possessed by an actor