Bourdieu for beginners
- Thread starter chilango
- Start date
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
hmm... maybe not the third
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
aqua
made of cheese and gin
If there is I've not found it. Not helped by the fact that a) he never really describes clearly what he means and b) as a result everyone interpreting it slightly differently
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Smokeandsteam
Working Class First
Try 'Pierre Bourdieu: Key concepts' by Michael Grenfell. Best primer I have read.
Don'y know how you are tackling this but the best way I found was to break it down into sections - habitus, social capital/cultural capital, field etc
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
There's probably a few hundred now. This is a good no messing intro.
Smokeandsteam
Working Class First
By the way, don't get lost in his style. Once you have the arthitecture of his ideas assembled read it against those concepts and ideas and it comes alive (if that makes sense).
aqua
made of cheese and gin
I couldn't get lost in his style if you paid me
I find it almost impossible to read any chunks of his work
Smokeandsteam
Working Class First
I couldn't get lost in his style if you paid me
Yeah, so did I. It can be impenetrable unless you first establish the key concepts and architecture of his thought and read it with this at the forefront of your mind.
aqua
made of cheese and gin
I try that but it's just dreadful to read. My dyslexia doesn't help tbh, but I don't work with anyone to talk it through with (it's part of my PhD literature, well, capital and habitus are, less so field)
Smokeandsteam
Working Class First
Yes, it's really difficult if you can't sit and talk it though - although I didn't either. I don't know what your PhD is in but I am surprised there aren't others who who can discuss with around your university.
You could set a Bourdieu discussion up on here?
aqua
made of cheese and gin
I'd rather gouge my eyes out
as soon as I'm finished I've vowed never to talk about him again
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
on that subject you will be like the trappists, silentI'd rather gouge my eyes out
Vintage Paw
dead stare and computer glare
Him indoors is well versed in Bourdieu. I asked his advice, and he said he found getting stuck in with Bourdieu better than any primers. The first two books he read were Sociology in Question (1993) and Practical Reason (1998) and he said both were very clear.
My understanding of Bourdieu is mediated through Phil, I got my very basic understanding from discussions with him, and I've since read The Field of Cultural Production and like others dipped in and out of Distinction. I echo the suggestion to find others to talk to about it. That foundational understanding makes everything else easier to read.
My understanding of Bourdieu is mediated through Phil, I got my very basic understanding from discussions with him, and I've since read The Field of Cultural Production and like others dipped in and out of Distinction. I echo the suggestion to find others to talk to about it. That foundational understanding makes everything else easier to read.
Smokeandsteam
Working Class First
I'd rather gouge my eyes out
I feel that way about Foucault. I think you are missing out with Bourdieu. It's really important stuff 'properly' contextualised.
Smokeandsteam
Working Class First
I tried that and it didn't work for me (I did the same with Capital). The way my brain works best is if I understand the key concepts and then actually read the work once I've got my head around the key arguments/ideas. I couldn't have read Capital without David Harvey's book and similarly with Bourdieu I read the Grenfell book and then discussed the key concepts with others and then went back and actually read him, understood it and really learned stuff.
flypanam
Sausage to fortune
Vintage Paw
dead stare and computer glare
Someone got really upset with me the other day when I said it was mildly amusing that the abstract for that sounded a little bit Bourdieusian. Academics can be a miserable lot.
purves grundy
ambient clown remix
I'd recommend 'An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology'. Functions as a very good introduction to his thought, with Loic Wacquant first giving a good overview of the core themes of Bourdieu's work, then a series of conversations between Wacquant and Bourdieu, then the man himself writing in an accessible way about his approach.
Miss-Shelf
I'll meet you further on up the road
Vintage Paw
dead stare and computer glare
I asked him indoors and he replied, "Jeffrey Alexander's look at neofunctionalism (which is critical of Bourdieu) is concerned with reproduction."
Patteran
A nowadays excuse
Now you've got Bordieu sorted can any one help me with Deleuze and Guattari ? I cannot fathom their ideas
This book sits on my shelf mocking me cos I can't understand it...and it's supposed to be a primer
Dunno if this is too basic, but there's a Jeremy Gilbert 'Culture, Power, Politics' podcast that gives an introduction to D&G that I found helpful, & encouraged me to read Anti-Oedipus.
That Olsson book & the wider 'Contesting Early Childhood' range look really interesting. But flippin eck, they're pricey.
