a different poststructuralism

8/11/2019 A Different Poststructuralism

1/5

A Different PoststructuralismOutline of a Theory of Practice. by Pierre Bourdieu; Richard NiceReview by: Craig CalhounContemporary Sociology, Vol. 25, No. 3 (May, 1996), pp. 302-305Published by: American Sociological AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2077436.

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2/5

302 CONTEMPORARYSOCIOLOGY

Third,

students

of culture would also

do

well to

take the

notion

of

"deep play" (a

theoretical dea,

if ever

there

was one) more

seriously.

n

"Deep

Play,"Geertz

is not only

exploring

the meanings of

the Balinese

cockfight. e is also askingwhatmakes some

culturalperformances,

ome

cultural experi-

ences deeper,

more

intense, more gripping

than others.

This is

the beginning of

an

analysis

of

why

some

rituals,

texts,

or

symbolsgenerate

more meaning

than others

do.

Geertz

explores

how

tension,

uncertainty

about the outcome,

balanced opponents,

and

the

ability

to symbolize

(and sublimate)

significant

ocial tensions

make some

cock-

fights deeper, more exciting, and more

satisfying

han

others.

Barely breaking

the surface

of Geertz's

essays,

but

there,

nonetheless,

lurks the

question

of

whether

and

in

what

sense

cultures

are

really "systems"

after

all. He

recognizes

thatmultiple

kinds of

realitiescan

abide

side

by

side.

He also occasionally

addresses

great

clashes

of

meanings,

when

people's

cultural

assumptions

don't mesh,

and when culture

itself is a source of

sometimesviolentconflict. f cultural coher-

ence

is itself

ariable,

Geertz's work

provides

a

starting oint

for

tudying

his variation.

Geertz's polemical

stands-in

favor of

interpretation

nd against explanation,

for

description

over

theory,

and

against

all

general

theory-are

red herrings.They

have

distracted

us

from

the

depth

and

originality

of

his

own theorizing.

Sociology

has

not

faced a crisis of

confidence

like that

of

anthropology; nd sociologyhas always had a

stronger

commitment to

both theory

and

explanation. Perhaps, then, sociologists

will

be

able

uninhibitedly o

assimilate

and

find

real

nourishment

in

the

rich

filling of

Geertz's interpretation-sandwich.

Other works cited:

Alexander, effrey

.

1987. Twenty

ectures: ociolog-

ical Theory since World War

II.

New York:

Columbia University

ress.

Asad,Talal. 1983. "Anthropological onceptions

of

Religion:Reflectionsn Geertz."Man 18:237-259.

Biersack,

Aletta.

1989.

"Local

Knowledge, Local

History:Geertz and Beyond." Pp. 72-96 in Lynn

Hunt (ed.), The New Cultural History.Berkeley:

University

f California

ress.

Geertz, Clifford. 968.

Islam

Observed: Religious

Development in Morocco and Indonesia. New

Haven: Yale University ress.

. 1983. Local Knowledge:

Further ssays in

Interpretive nthropology. ew

York:BasicBooks.

Keesing, Roger

M.

1974.

"Theories

of

Culture."Pp.

73-97 in Annual Review of Anthropology . Palo

Alto:AnnualReviews,

nc.

Parker, ichard.1985.

"From

Symbolism

o

Interpre-

tation:Reflections

n

the

Workof

Clifford

eertz."

Anthropology

nd Humanism

Quarterly 0(3):62-

67.

Shankman,

aul.

1984.

"The

Thick

and the Thin: On

the

Interpretive

heoretical

Program

of

Clifford

Geertz."

CurrentAnthropology5 (June):261-279.

Swidler,

Ann

and Roland

L.

Jepperson. 994.

"Inter-

pretation, xplanation,

nd Theories ofMeaning."

Paper presented at

the

American Sociological

Association

Annual

Meetings,

Los

Angeles,

CA

(August).

Wikan,

Unni.

1992. "Beyond

he

Words:The Power

of

Resonance."American Ethnologist 19 (August):

460-482.

A DifferentPoststructuralism

CRAIG

CALHOUN

Universityf

NorthCarolina,

Chapel

Hill

Original

review,

CS

9:2

(March 1980),

by

ArthurW. Frank

II:

The contributionfBourdieu'swork sthat

in producing

better rounded

tructural-

ism,he accomplishes

he

practice

f more

scientific

Marxism..

TheEuropean

diom

of Bourdieu's

writing

hould

not distract

North

merican

ociologists

romts xtraor-

dinarymportance

s

a

theory

f method.

Outline of a Theory of Practice,

by Pierre

Bourdieu. Trans. by Richard Nice.

New York:

Cambridge University ress [1972] 1977. 248

pp. $19.95 paper. ISBN: 0-521-29164-X.

Pierre Bourdieu

(1988) has described one

central motivation

behind

his intellectual

work as

a

determination o

challenge mislead-

ing dichotomies.

This

determination

s no-

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3/5

CONTEMPORARY

OCIOLOGY

303

where more

manifest

han n

the

workthat

first

maide

himfamous n

English-language

sociology,

nd which

remains

perhaps his

most influential,

utline of a

Theoryof

Practice.' Outline

attacksmany

roblematic

dichotomies, ut has gained its enduring

influencemost f

ll

from

tschallenge o the

opposition f structurend

action.

The

idea

of transcending

his

dichotomy

was

not

a

new one

in

sociological heory;

recall he effort

ignaled y

Talcott

arsons's

first

ook,The tructuref

Social Action. ut

Bourdieu's effortwas

both original and

compelling. t

caught,moreover, he rising

demandforan

integrationf structurend

action that followed the successivecrises

firstfParsons's

wn

functionalismnd then

of

a

Marxism

hathad

split

nto

tructuralist

and voluntarist

amps.

Outlinedid

not

chieve he

nstant ame

f

Bourdieu's

Distinction,

which burst

n

the

Anglophonecene

in a

1984

translationnd

helped to spark the

renaissance

of

the

sociology

of

culture,

s

well

as

a

thriving

subfield

f cultural

tudiesof

stratification.

Rather, artly ecause

it

is

a more

difficult

book,Outlineattractedeadersgradually-

but also found ts

way

into

the

standard

syllabi

or

graduate

ourses

n

contemporary

sociological heory.

t

also had

a

substantial

indirectnfluence,

ven

before

ranslation,

s

for

example Bourdieu'swork

helped shape

AnthonyGiddens's

intellectual

ramework

and

aterreaders

ickedup

Bourdieu's

deas

and

terms

like

tructuration-

rom

iddens

without

lwaysknowing

heir ource.

Out-

line

spoke

to a desire

for

heory

hat

made

sense of the stabilityf social organization

without

uccumbing

o the conservatism

f

much

functionalism,

nd

thatmade sense

of

human

agency

without

relying

n

highly

cognitive accounts

of

intentions.

t

also

helped that, espite

a

good

translation,

he

text

was

sufficientlyblique

in

style

hat

t

could

be

read-at

least

superficially-with

approvalby

English-language

heorists

f

starklyontrasting

rientations.

Since hebookwasoriginallyrittenome

years earlier

in

French,

this

context of

receptionwas not

exactly

ts

context of

production.

The

dichotomy

hat rent

the

1

Bourdieu n

essence rewroteOutline

in his

later,

but

less

widely read, Logic of

Practice

(Stanford:

Stanford

niversity

ress, 1990).

French

ntellectual cene

and

that shaped

Bourdieu'sown

initial

rientation

pposed

the

structuralisms

f

Levi-Straussnd

Althus-

ser

to

the

gocentric

xistentialism

fSartre.2

If

forced o

choose,

Bourdieuwas clearly

n

Levi-Strauss'side though otthat fAlthus-

ser),

but

in

Outline

he

combined

classic

structuralist

nalyses

of

the

Kabyle with

a

developing

ritique f

structuralism's

ogni-

tivist eglect f

practical

nowledge,

ts

more

general

bjectivism,nd its

nabilityo turn

that

objectivist aze on

itself

n

order

to

provide an

adequate

account of its

own

scientific

tandpoint.

or

all of

his

influence

in

anthropology, nd

his

general fame,

Levi-Strauss ad not been widelyread in

American

ociology. his

made

Outline

both

more

difficultor

many

eaders o

assimilate

and

more

valuable

s a

critical

ntroduction

to someofthe

achievementsf

tructuralism

(that s,of

cultural

tructuralism,s distinct

from

various acultural

accounts of

social

structure).

ike

Foucault's

work

of the

same

period

The Order

f

Things,

nd

Archaeol-

ogyof

Knowledge), utline ffered

oth

one

of

structuralism's

igh

points

nd

important

movementeyond t.

Structuralist

nalyses

ere

commonly

tatic,

and

therefore

ommonlyopposed

to

ac-

counts

f

process.3 n

the

Manichean

pposi-

tion of

structuralismo

existentialism,ndi-

viduals,

action, and

especially

personal

experiencewerecededto

the atter

and the

latter therebydeclared

unscientific).

As

Althusser

amously ut

t,

ndividual

ersons

were not

of analytic

ignificance

n

them-

selves,

but ratherwere

simply

he

"bearers"

of structure. rom early in his work in

Algeria, ourdieu

ound

t

critical o

analyze

both recurrent

rocesses

through

which

ways

of

life

were

enacted

and

more linear

processes

of historical

hange. Above

all,

Bourdieu

soughtto

show

how

structures

were

reproduced

hrough

he

very

ctions

y

which

individuals

oughtto

achieve

their

personal ends. Outline

was

his first

major

2

Thoughpublished

in

1972,

Outline was

largely

written

efore 1968

and

is not

the

work

n which

to

find

Bourdieu's

response

to

the

events

of

that

year

or

the

ate 60s

intellectual

onflicts

more

generally.

or

that,

ee Homo Academicus.

3

Foucault's structuralist istories

hus stress

rup-

tures

between

statistically

onceived

epochs

more

than

processes,

whether

f

change

or

flux.



4/5

304 CON]TEMPORARYSOCIOLOGY

theoretical

tatement f this approach, nd

thiswas a

crucial asis of tsearly nfluence.

Partly ecausemany nglish-language

ead-

ers had previously

een exposed to Bourdi-

eu's early

writingsn theFrench ducational

system, utlinewas at first ead argely s a

"reproductionheory." he

powerofBourdi-

eu's accounts

fhow ndividualctionswere

recuperated

nto the reproductionf struc-

ture recalling

Merton's lassicevocation

f

the unintended

onsequencesof purposive

social action)was readily

rasped. he other

side of the coin was less

fully ppreciated.

But Bourdieu

quallymadestructure epen-

denton action, nd in so

doingprovided

n

opening or tudying ow changingmaterial

conditions

e.g., the monetarization

f the

Kabyle economy)

could

change the way

cultural rocessesplayed

ut

n

the realm f

individualction.

In order o address

ction, ourdieu rew

on a

largely

nglo-Saxonanguage

f

trategy

and recoveredwith new

meaning he

old

term "habitus."The

language of strategy

suggested

to manyAmericanreaders

an

affinity

o rational choice theory which

Bourdieuhas strenuouslyenied). This re-

pelled

at

east s

many

who objected

o what

they aw as excessive conomism

nd nstru-

mentalisms it attractedthers

who saw the

possibility

f

developing

culturally

icher

approach ostrategic

ction.

Whether

iltered

through ational-choicehinking

r not,part

of

he mpact

f

Outline

has been

to

show,

n

the

tradition

f MarcelMauss,

how

appar-

ently onstrategic

r disinterested

ctions

n

fact

can

be

understood

s

resulting

rom

actors' nterests,venwhen those ctors re

not consciously

ware of this motivation.

Bourdieusought to

demonstrate ow

the

"strategy"

nherednot simply

n

conscious

intentions

a fallacy

t

once cognitivist

nd

subjectivist)

ut

in the

situation

nd

in the

whole being

of the actor s

well.

This

is where habitus

omes

in.

Notori-

ously

difficulto

pin

down,

he

termmeans

basically

he

embodied

ensibility

hat

makes

possible tructuredmprovisation.azzmusi-

cians can

play

together

ithout

onsciously

following

ules

because they

ave

developed

physically

mbodied

capacities

o hear and

respond

appropriatelyo

what is

being

produced y

others,

nd

to

create

hemselves

in

ways

that others

can hear

sensibly

nd

to whichothers

an

respond.

Or

in

Bourdi-

eu's metaphor, ffective lay

of a game

requires ot ustknowledge f

rulesbut also

a

practical ense for the game.

Bourdieu's

account s one of the most

fruitfulo have

been offered f this dimension

of "tacit

knowledge," ll the more so because of his

relation f thisto bodily

hexis (pickingup

the Aristotelianoncept).

Bourdieu howed

culture s embodied,not just thought, nd

this lonewouldhaveensured

considerable

influence orOutline.

But the point was even more basic (and

more sociological). Bourdieu

emphasized

thathabituswas not just a

capacity f the

individual,ut an achievementf the collec-

tivity. t was the result of a ubiquitous

"collective enterprise f inculcation." he

reasonwhy"strategies"ould

workwithout

individuals eing onsciously

trategics that

individualsecamewho theywere and

social

institutionsxisted only on the

strength f

this

inculcation f orientations o

action,

evaluation, nd understanding.his

was

a

matter otonly f ocialization,

onceived

n

the neutralmanner f much

sociology, ut

also of power. Inculcationtook

place

in

families ifferentiallyndowedwithcultural

capital, or xample, nd thus

blessed some

children

with

dvantages

n

performing

ari-

ous socialroles.

t was for his eason oo that

struggles

ver

classification

igured

o

impor-

tantly

or

Bourdieu.

Bourdieu showed

that

the

classificatory

chemes asic to

structural-

ist analysiswere not simply

bjective,

s a

static ccountwould

mply,

utwere

also

the

products

f

nterestedtrugglemong ocial

actors (albeit seldom explicit).

The

most

fundamentalocialchanges ad toappearnot

only

s

changes

n

formal tructuresut also

as

changes

n

habitual

rientationso action.

Bourdieu sought

thus to overcome

the

separation

f

culture,

ocial

organization,

nd

embodied

ndividual

eing

thatwas charac-

teristic fmost

xistingociology.

n

this,

is

most mportant

merican orebear

was

Erv-

ingGoffman,

ithwhom

he

spent

ime

arly

in

his career,

nd it

is

surprising

hat this

connection id not chievemore ecognition

in

the

early eception

f

Outline.

Outline

has

been most

nfluential

mong

those

who seek to

analyze

the

interplay

between

cultural nd social structure

nd

social action.

f

others

f

Bourdieu'sworks

have helped

to create

the

sociology

of

culture

s

a

subfield,

utline has

played

a



5/5

CONTEMPORARY

OCIOLOGY

305

majorrole

n bringingulturalnalysis ack

into the center of sociological

analysis

n

general. n encouraging he

attempt o see

both actors

(and

therefore ctions) and

institutionss shapedby cultural

chemasto

borrow ewell'srecent erm), t also opens

up the possibility

f analysis

f the way in

which hose chemas

re

shaped

n

struggle.

This is the larger ask to

which Bourdieu's

account f

"symbolic iolence"

peaks; thas

already een

put to use

ina variety fmore

specific

nalytic

ontexts. utline lso

fore-

shadowed Bourdieu'sdevelopment

f the

conceptof

cultural apital, nd moregener-

ally

the theory f

how different

orms

f

accumulatedresourcesmayhave different

effects,nd maybe converted.

n

one

related

sense,

however,

Outlinemay

have misled

readers.

ourdieu's ociology

s aimed

argely

at

an account of power relations,

nd

especially

f the

many

ways

n which

power

is

culturallyproduced,

reproduced,

and

manipulated.

artly

because of

the

heavy

emphasis

n

strategizinganguage,

his s not

as manifest

n

Outline s

in

some of

the rest

ofBourdieu's

work.

The influence f Outline remains arge,

partlybecause

it

appears (along

with

the

overlapping ogic of

Practice)

as the

most

important

f the relativelyew general nd

synthetictatements ourdieuhas offered

f

his"theory"a labelhe doesn't

ike).The rest

of his

publications

range across

a

wide

variety fempirical bjects of analysis, rom

museumsand literature o

kinship, lass,

Algerian

workers, nd Frenchhigher duca-

tion.

Outline

s not a cure

for he

common

fragmented

eading

f

Bourdieu,

ut t

does

go

some

way towards

showing

what

is

central o his

perspectivend situating any

of his

key concepts

n

relation o broader

theory.

n a

sense t explicates nd

provides

rationale

for

what

Brubaker 1992) has

described s Bourdieu's ociological abitus,

his characteristicmode

of

improvising

n

empiricalnalysis.

References

Bourdieu, ierre.

988.

"Vive

a crise For

Heterodoxy

in

Social

Science," Theory

nd

Society,17(5), pp.

773-88.

Brubaker,

Rogers. 1992.

"Social

Theory

as

Habitus,"

pp. 212-234

in C.

Calhoun,

E.

LiPuma,

and M.

Postone, eds.: Bourdieu: Critical Perspectives.

Chicago,

L:

University

f

Chicago

Press.

The Gendering

of Social

Theory: Sociology

and

Its Discontents

Original review,

CS 8:4

(January

1979),

by

Rose

Laub

Coser:

This book

will have

consequences

in

sociological

as well as

in psychoanalytic

theorizing

at

the same time as

it

may

provide

some

ofthe underpinnings

for

theory

offeminism.

Nancy Chodorow and I have known each

other

formore

than

15 years

as colleagues

and

as friends.

art

of

that

riendship

as

developed

out

of our mutual

ntellectual nterests

n

gen-

der

and

family

elations

nd in social

theory.

n

our many

conversations

that have engaged

those nterests,

here

has been

mutualcritique

BARBARA ASLETT

University f Minnesota

TheReproduction fMothering:sychoanaly-

sis and theSociology f Gender, y NancyJ.

Chodorow. Berkeley: University f California

Press, 1978. 253 pp. $15.00 paper. ISBN:

0-520-03892-4.

as well as appreciation.This essay continues n

the

spirit f

those conversations.

The Reproduction of Mothering: Psycho-

analysis

and

the

Sociology of

Gender

(here-

after,Mothering), published

in

1978 by

the

Universityof California Press, was

a

major

intellectual event in the emerging field of

feminist

cholarship

and

in

social

theory.

ts


a different poststructuralism

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