Undergraduate Course: Reading Bourdieu on Culture and Society (SCIL10102)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Pierre Bourdieu is one of the most influential sociologists of recent times. His ideas have shaped the way social scientists talk about and research society, while concepts like habitus, cultural capital and field have become conceptual linchpins for those interested in exploring the relationship between culture, society and power. How are our bodily habits and judgments shaped by the forces and institutions of the external social world? How do social structures set limits to people's choices, shaping their perceptions of themselves and others? And what does this tell us about how contemporary societies are stratified? This course gives students the opportunity to engage, in depth, with Bourdieu's ideas. It will be based on close readings of a selection of Bourdieu's primary texts as well as empirical applications and critical assessments of his theoretical corpus. It will examine why Bourdieu has become such a central figure in debates about culture, taste and social stratification, as well as the relationship between individual practice and broader patterns of social inequality. The course will be useful for students interested in Bourdieu as a social theorist, those thinking about using Bourdieu's ideas in their own work, as well as students curious about the relationship between culture, social structure and power in general. No previous knowledge of Bourdieu's work is required, though it would be an advantage to have come across some of his ideas in previous courses. |
| Course description |
A giant of the discipline of sociology, Pierre Bourdieu bequeathed a substantial body of work that has transformed how we think about the relationship between culture and society. He offered both a general theory of social change and a raft of concepts - notably, habitus, capital, and field - to interrogate the complexities of taste and consumption and their relationship to broader social structures. He remains one of, if not the, most well-cited social scientist of the late 20th century, and his influence stretches across the humanities and social sciences. This course provides an overview of Bourdieu's work, exploring the gestation of his ideas and taking stock of his influence on sociological thinking in general and the sociology of culture in particular. It also aims to critically engage with these ideas to show how they have been deployed in research and, increasingly, subjected to refinement, rebuttal and rejection.
The course gives students a space to interrogate the theoretical propositions of a single author, to delve deeply into Bourdieu's works, and to critically examine their analytical power in relation to their own lives. It will be based primarily on primary texts, giving students a chance to engage with Bourdieu in his own words, supported by secondary commentary and empirical application.
The first part of the course will be an introduction to Bourdieu's ideas, their origins and elaboration in key texts; the second part will focus on the application of these ideas to particular empirical domains; the third part will explore refinements and criticisms of Bourdieu's ideas, and their relevance to 21st century social science. Topics covered in the course may include, but are not limited to: who was Pierre Bourdieu? Histories, trajectories, legacies; habitus and cultural capital; education, reproduction and symbolic violence; the sociology of art perception; taste, class and consumption; the field of cultural production; on television and journalism; cultural intermediaries and the culture industries; Bourdieu and the sociology of music; beyond Bourdieu; reading Bourdieu today; Bourdieu, technical capital and AI; gender and symbolic violence; correspondence analysis and participant objectification; the critique of neo-liberalism and the poverty of the world; de-colonising Bourdieusian scholarship and black cultural capital. The exact content will change from year to year depending on current issues and problematics.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Students should have some experience of studying sociology at university level, and must have passed an introductory course in the subject at their home university. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate understanding of Bourdieu's main ideas, namely the concepts of habitus, capital and field.
- Explain the appeal of Bourdieu's ideas and assess his contribution to the discipline of sociology.
- Identify and describe empirical applications of Bourdieu's ideas in the field of cultural sociology.
- Critically evaluate Bourdieu's theoretical propositions and identify their strengths and weaknesses.
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Reading List
Pierre Bourdieu (1982) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Pierre Bourdieu (1993) The Field of Cultural Production, Polity.
Pierre Bourdieu and Löic Wacquant (1992) Towards a Reflexive Sociology, Polity.
Pierre Bourdieu (1972) Outline of a Theory of Practice, Polity.
Pierre Bourdieu (1997) Pascalian Meditations, Polity. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The cultivation of a critical outlook and advanced level engagement with ideas
Ability to evaluate evidence, weigh up the power of concepts to explain the nature of the social world.
Ability to use personal and intellectual autonomy to critically assess concepts.
Development and refinement of effective communication skills in the context of argumentation, discussion and debate.
Ability to undertake close readings of primary material of a theoretical nature. |
| Keywords | Bourdieu,culture,stratification,reading,social theory,habitus,field,music |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Nicholas Prior
Tel: (0131 6)50 3991
Email: n.prior@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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