PPE Notes Sociological Theory Notes
Notes on ideology, class, and methodology. Including summaries of Bourdieu, Durkheim, Weber, Zizek, Marx and Giddens....
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Pierre Bourdieu & Loic Wacquant - An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology
Chapter One - Toward a Social Praxeology: The Structure and Logic of Bourdieu’s Sociology (Wacquant)
Bourdieu sought to jettison a bunch of dichotomies that are recognised in social science
objective/subjective
structure/agency
micro/macro-analysis
but in order to understand his work it must be examined as a whole, and not compartmentalized
1. Beyond the Antimony of Social Physics and Social Phenomenology
For B, sociology must uncover buried structures that constitute the social universe, and the mechanisms that ensure their reproduction or transformation
structures exist in two forms:
the objectivity of the first order - the distribution of material resources, means of appropriation of goods/values etc (social physics e.g. structuralism)
analysis on this axis reveals the determinate relations within which people produce their existence, explains regularities and conformity
BUT without a principle of the generation of regularities, it slips from the model to reality; its structures are seen as autonomous, acting agents
a scholastic vision of practice is imposed upon agents
individuals/groups are seen as props of a mechanically determined system
objectivity of the second order - systems of classification; mental and bodily schemata that function as templates for the practical activities of social agents (subjectivism/constructivism/ethnomethodology/rational choice)
consciousness/interpretations of agents also constitute the reality of the social world - individuals have practical knowledge of the world
mundane knowledge, subjective meaning and practical competency play a role in the production of society
BUT this approach cannot account for the resilience or rejection of certain objective configurations
nor can it explain according to what principles social reality is produced - i.e. the categories that agents use in its construction
a science of society must account for both
objective structures can be constructed independent of representation, with distributions of socially efficient resources defining the external constraints of interaction/representation
this is prior - an agent’s viewpoint will vary systematically with their position in objective structures
the immediate, lived experience of agents explicates the categories of perception and appreciation that structure their action from the inside
2. Classification Struggles and the Dialectic of Social and Mental Structures
Durkheim saw a correspondence between social structures and mental structures in primitive societies, which Bourdieu developed in four ways:
extended it to ‘advanced’ societies
social structures cause corresponding mental structures
exposure means that dispositions are instilled and inscribed in individuals
where this occurs, the distinction between sociology and social psychology collapses
the correspondence between social and mental structures is political - it is an instrument of domination
the symbolic system naturalizes an arbitrary order; presents it as objective necessity
conversely, transformation can occur through the generation of a new symbolic system
systems of classification constitute a stake in the struggles between individuals/groups
classes struggle to impose the classification that is most congruent with their interests
3. Methodological Relationism
Bourdieu rejects disjunctive dualisms - structure or agent, system or actor, collective or individual
these are rooted in ordinary language, and favour substance over relations
they are reinforced by political and social oppositions (e.g. individual/society in politics)
Bourdieu’s relationalism follows that of Marx, Levi-Strauss etc
habitus and field designate bundles of relations
a field is a set of objective, historical relations between positions anchored in forms of power/capital
habitus is a set of historical relations deposited within individual bodies as mental and corporeal...
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Notes on ideology, class, and methodology. Including summaries of Bourdieu, Durkheim, Weber, Zizek, Marx and Giddens....
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