Pierre Bourdieu

Pierre Bourdieu is a colossus of postwar sociology. He is the author of over 30 books and more than 350 articles. He is ranked second only to Michel Foucault in the Social Science Citation Index. His work covers many fields - the sociology of culture, research methods, higher education, social theory, power and stratification. In each, he has made notable and, in some cases, seminal contributions. It amounts to one of the most important achievements in social science in the 20th century.

This unrivalled collection seeks to make sense of Bourdieu's work and to chart the scale of his influence. Selected and edited by one of the leading commentators on Pierre Bourdieu, Derek Robbins brings an informed, sympathetic, yet scrupulously critical perspective to bear upon his subject. Because Bourdieu's work touches upon so many fields and engages with such a wide variety of critical issues, it constitutes an unusually rich dialogue with the main trends in postwar social science. This collection is a major intellectual resource for scholars interested in understanding not only Bourdieu's work, but the movement of social science over the last 40 years.

The material is divided thematically into seven sections:

Section 1: Life // Career

This provides a framework for understanding Bourdieu's project. The reader is introduced to the main principles and ambitions which inform his work. The essential details of his personal background and work history are described. The section provides a route-map to follow the main direction of Bourdieu's intellectual journey.

Section 2: Bourdieu's Philosophy of Science//Knowledge and His Methodology

Methodology is the bedrock of Bourdieu's work. His commitment to a consistent methodology has enabled him to work across a wide range of fields and problem areas. This section supplies readers with the key features of Bourdieu's methodology. It includes commentaries on Bourdieu's theory of practice, socio-cultural reproduction and epistemology.

Section 3: Bourdieu's Key Concepts

'Cultural capital', 'habitus', 'field' and 'reproduction' are perhaps the most important items in Bourdieu's bequest of durable concepts to sociology. This section explores each concept in detail and demystifies their meaning and significance. It offers readers an indispensable resource in assessing Bourdieu's achievement.

Section 4: Intellectual Fields

Education, anthropology, philosophy, sociology, linguistics and cultural studies are perhaps the central fields in which Bourdieu's ideas have made an impact. Without being interested in 'interdisciplinarity' his work has provided a blueprint for multi-disciplinary research. This section allows readers to reflect on the breadth of Bourdieu's interest.

Section 5: Transnational Transmission

A fascinating aspect to Bourdieu, is the varied ways in which his work has been interpreted and used in world sociology. This section offers a systematic review of how Bourdieu has been assimilated in different national traditions.

Section 6: Applications

Bourdieu has always been interested in the practical applications of theory and research. He eschewed abstract theory and freefloating method in favour of a concrete theoretical and methodological approach. This section surveys the applications of Bourdieu's ideas in a variety of settings and problem areas. It includes discussions of how the concepts of 'habitus' and 'cultural capital' have been used, the relevance of discourse genres, the insights that accrue from Bourdieu's sociology of art, the links between Bourdieu's sociology of culture and feminism and the relevance of Bourdieu's work on class and distinction.

Section 7: Ways of Reading Bourdieu

Several authors have sought to suggest a 'way in' to understanding Bourdieu's work. This section presents these texts, after discussing them in an introductory commentary.

The collection provides readers with the best one-stop assessment of the career and achievement of France's leading sociologist. It is a landmark contribution to the study of Pierre Bourdieu and the condition of sociology at the start of a new millennium.

Derek Robbins is Head of Social Politics, Languages and Linguistics at the University of East London.

An accessible and readable introduction to Bourdieu's work, this book places him in intellectual and historical context, and shows how Bourdieu is best understood as a cultural analyst. It traces his development from his early work on education to his relationship to cultural sociology and cultural studies. The book also gives detailed examples, drawn from Bourdieu's own work, to show how he makes sense of contemporary culture. Robbins guides the reader authoritatively through Bourdieu's wide-ranging body of theoretical and analytical work and offers a framework within which the most recent aspects of that work can be understood.

Professor of International Social Theory at the University of East London