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.
Table of Contents
Preface by Pierre Bourdieu
Preface by Loic J. D. Wacquant
I Toward a Social Praxeology: The Structure and Logic of Bourdieu's Sociology, Loic J. D. Wacquant
1 Beyond the Antinomy of Social Physics and Social Phenomenology
2 Classification Struggles and the Dialectic of Social and Mental Structures
3 Methodological Relationalism
4 The Fuzzy Logic of Practical Sense
5 Against Theoreticism and Methodologism: Total Social Science
6 Epistemic Reflexivity
7 Reason, Ethics, and Politics
II The Purpose of Reflexive Sociology (The Chicago Workshop), Pierre Bourdieu and Loic J. D. Wacquant
1 Sociology as Socioanalysis
2 The Unique and the Invariant
3 The Logic of Fields
4 Interest, Habitus, Rationality
5 Language, Gender, and Symbolic Violence
6 For a, Realpolitik of Reason
7 The Personal is Social
III The Practice of Reflexive Sociology (The Paris Workshop), Pierre Bourdieu
1 Handing Down a Trade
2 Thinking Relationally
3 A Radical Doubt
4 Double Bind and Conversion
5 Participant Objectivation
Appendixes, Loic J. D. Wacquant
1 How to Read Bourdieu
2 A Selection of Articles from, Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales
3 Selected Recent Writings on Pierre Bourdieu
