PIERRE BOURDIEU

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PIERRE BOURDIEU

• The Sociology of
• Class, Lifestyle and Power

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Bourdieus Key Claims

1. Social class is the elementary social fact
2. We continue to live in highly stratified,
   class-based societies
3. Society works to keep the upper classes powerful
   and the lower classes powerless
4. A lot of this happens unintentionally not
   deliberate manipulation by the powerful

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OUTLINE

1. Bourdieus biography
2. Main aims
3. Social action
4. Habitus, capital, field
5. Education field
6. Social reproduction
7. Criticisms

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Bourdieus Biography

• 1930 2002
• - Born in the Béarn region of France
• - Peasant background
• - Star pupil degrees in philosophy
• and anthropology
• - Professor of Sociology, College de France
  (1980)
• - Political figure Media personality
• - An Outsiders Sociology

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Main Aims

• To understand why social inequalities
• a) are reproduced over time
• Retention of wealth, prestige, power by elites
• (reproduction)
• b) are generally accepted by the lower classes
• To liberate social actors from oppressive social
  and mental conditions
• - reveals structures actors not fully aware of
• - shows society could be organised differently

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Main Aims

• 3) Reconcile and synthesise separate schools of
  sociological thought
• Marxism (class power)
• Durkheimian sociology (division of labour
  worldviews of different groups)
• Weberian sociology (focus on social action
  attention to empirical details)
• Phenomenology
• (how people perceive the world they live in how
  social power shapes perceptions)

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Main Aims

• 4) Transcend dualisms
• - Subjective OR Objective
• - Social Structure OR Action/Agency
  (Structuration)
• Theory OR Empirical sociology
• Quantitative OR Qualitative
• Use of multiple research methods
• Interviews, questionnaires, documents, etc.

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Main Aims

• 5) Connect different social spheres
• Sociology of education, sociology of politics,
  sociology of mass media, etc.
• See how each sphere connects with, and affects,
  the others
• 6) Encourage reflexivity
• Sociology of sociology
• See how social forces shape the ways in which
  sociologists see things
• - Sociologist studies him/herself sociologically

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Social Action

• (Weber Parsons)
• 1) A person
• who has resources
• 2) Person thinks in certain ways
• has certain goals
• thinks of ways (means) to achieve them
• goals and means shaped by culture
• 3) Has to act in particular social contexts
• Contexts shape the persons thinking acting
• Contexts shape how successful (or not) the person
  is in achieving their goals

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• 1) A person has particular goals
• (these may be thought about fully consciously or
  only semi-consciously)
• 2) They try to pursue those goals using certain
  strategies
• (also consciously or semi-consciously)
• 3) They have certain resources at their disposal
• (some people have more resources than others)
• 4) They act in certain social contexts
• Success 1) having a large amount of the right
  sort of resources 2) having appropriate
  strategies
• Failure 1) having the wrong sort of resources
• 2) having inappropriate strategies

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• a) A person (social actor) (shaped by a
  habitus)
• who has resources (capital)
• b) Person thinks in certain ways
• - thinking is semi-conscious practical reason
• - both goals and strategies shaped by the habitus
• c) Person has to act in particular social
  contexts
• (fields)
• d) Person has to interact with other people
• (social games) (Actors players)
• How successful a person is in a particular field
  depends on how appropriate their habitus and
  capital is for the game played in that field

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• Sporting analogy
• 1) Social life is a series of games
• 2) You need the right skills to play those games
  successfully
• e.g. tennis skills rugby playing
• 3) Skills the capital you possess
• 4) Your habitus dictates the capital you possess
• 5) Some people have more capital than others
• EXAMPLE the game of education
• Appropriate skills cultural capital
• Appropriate habitus middle class habitus

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Habitus, Capital, Field

• Habitus (plural habitus)
• Components
• - ways of thinking / ways of acting
• - bodily habits
• - tastes likes and dislikes
• Whole way of life / lifestyle

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• a) Each class has its own habitus
• Working class habitus
• Middle class habitus
• Lower working class (least capital)
• Upper working class (some capital)
• Lower middle class (more capital)
• Upper middle class (most capital)
• b) Each individuals habitus is the
• habitus of their class
• e.g. working class person, working class habitus

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• c) Socialised into particular ways of thinking
  and acting
• Primary socialisation
• Secondary socialisation
• d) Experience the habitus as natural - the
  condition of doxa
• Could have been socialised very differently

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• e) Each habitus has its own set of tastes
• Likes / dislikes
• Beautiful / disgusting
• Moral / immoral, etc.
• f) Tastes are socially stratified
• Upper middle class taste highest
• Lower middle class taste middling
• Working class taste lowest

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BOURDIEU - RECAP

• 1. Society still very much class-based
• 2. Reproduction of privilege
• Elites pass advantages onto their children
• Non-elites pass disadvantages onto their children
  
• 3. Social life is a series of games, occurring in
  fields
• Success appropriate habitus capital

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Habitus - continued

• f) Tastes are socially stratified
• Upper middle class taste highest
• Lower middle class taste middling
• Working class taste lowest

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• g) Cultural power
• Elites have the power to define their tastes and
  their culture as the best
• - the most sophisticated, refined,
  tasteful, etc.
• Upper middle class habitus - sense of superiority
• Lower middle class habitus aspirational
• Working class habitus sense of inferiority
  defensiveness mocking of middle class
  pretentions

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• Capital
• HOW MUCH capital does a person have?
• WHAT TYPE of capital does a person have?
• Economic capital
• - money resources
• Cultural capital
• knowledge of legitimate culture / High
  Culture
• Linguistic capital speaking properly
• Social capital
• - social networks (knowing influential people)

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• a) AMOUNT TYPE of capital
• gt class membership
• e.g. LOW AMOUNT of all 3 TYPES
• lower working class
• e.g. HIGH AMOUNT of all 3 TYPES upper middle
  class
• b) Habitus STRONGLY INFLUENCES both the amount
  type of capital a person has
• The more upper middle class the habitus
• gt the more capital the person has

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Cultural Capital Economic Capital
(Upper WC)
(Lower WC)
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• Field
• a) Level of individuals experiences
• - different social contexts
• e.g. school, work, leisure
• - contexts where social games are played
• b) Level of Society
• - separate social spheres
• e.g. education system, economic system, system of
  leisure and recreation, etc.

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• c) Fields are based around specific types of
  capital
• e.g. education field educational capital
• (a particular sort of cultural capital)
• d) Success in the game played in a field
• having a large amount of the right type of
  capital for that field
• e) Fields are organised to the advantage of
  elites
• Not level playing fields
• Fields are organised to favour the sorts of
  capital elites happen to possess

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• f) Reproduction of inequalities
• - Successful actors have large amounts of the
  right sort of capital for the fields they are in
• - They pass that capital onto their children
• - (Opposite unsuccessful actors pass onto their
  children small amounts of useful capital and
  large amounts of useless capital)
• THE WINNERS KEEP WINNING
• THE LOSERS KEEP LOSING
• (Most of the time)

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EDUCATION FIELD

• Against the conventional view
• Meritocracy intelligence diligence
• Social mobility
• Educational success
• Having the right sort of capital
• Cultural Capital (CC)
• High CC gt good qualifications
• Elites use CC to get large amounts of educational
  capital (good qualifications)

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• Possessors of high CC
• Upper middle class
• Comes from their habitus (esp. home life)
• Possessors of intermediate CC
• Lower middle classes
• Possessors of low CC
• Working classes (esp. Lower WC)
• Habitus gt CC gt educational capital

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• Hidden curriculum
• 1) Unintentional evaluations by teachers
• Conscious level
• - Childs intelligence and diligence
• good work, articulate, bright, attentive,
  etc.
• Unconscious level
• Teachers have middle class habitus
• Teachers respect CC
• - Evaluations in terms of amount of CC the child
  has (due to its habitus)
• sloppy work, inarticulate, lazy,
  disruptive, etc.

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• 2) Child feels sense of
• - worthiness (if CC is high)
• - unworthiness (if CC is low)
• Feelings translate into effort performance
• Naturally clever / Naturally untalented
• High CC virtuous circle
• Low CC vicious circle
• OUTCOME
• Middle class success and working class failure
  are reproduced across generations
• This happens mostly unintentionally

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• Social Reproduction
• High cultural capital gt
• High educational capital gt
• Access to good jobs gt
• High wealth (economic capital)
• Upper middle class parents advantage their
  children
• 1) Economic capital gt access to good schools
• 2) Cultural capital gt good at school
• 3) Social capital gt useful connections

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• Upward social mobility
• It is possible for LMC and WC individuals
• But only for a relatively small number
• Capitalist society needs a working class
• Capitalist society needs to show itself as
  meritocratic and democratic
• Everyone goes to school all have the same
  chances
• c) Upper middle classes can play the game
  better
• Easier access to good schools
• Can cope with grade inflation

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• Downward social mobility
• The upper middle classes greatest fear
• Children occupy lower social positions than
  parents
• Parents pass on capital that is not useful, as
  societys fields change over time
• e.g. high CC gt non-vocational Arts degrees
• BUT if changing economy requires vocational
  technical qualifications gt CC not much use

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• Middle class defence mechanisms
• Transform one sort of capital into another sort
• 1) Use economic capital to get new sorts of
  educational capital
• - home familiarity with sophisticated technology
• - school extra tuition in employable skills
• 2) Use social capital to get entry into good
  jobs
• 3) Use economic cultural capital to create new
  sorts of jobs
• e.g. cultural service sector jobs
  aromatherapy, interior decoration, style
  consultancy, etc.

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Criticisms of Bourdieu

• Explains EVERYTHING in terms of habitus, capital
  field
• Circular assumes what he will find
• key concepts supposed to be guides to research
  but turn into certainties
• 3. Overemphasises class?
• - other sources of inequality downplayed?
• non-class-based habitus?
• 4. Outdated and context-specific?
• France in the 1960s/70s
• Society and culture more complex now?
• 5. Defence can use his concepts to understand
  changing social conditions