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Pierre Bourdieu Habitus Capital And Field

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Pierre Bourdieu was an acclaimed French sociologist, anthropologist and philosopher, who is still noted today as being one of the most prominent and influential intellects in recent years. He is famous for his contributions to many subjects and areas, and much of his work is still considered today as being classics. His work is considered to be some of the most innovative and groundbreaking bodies of theory and research in contemporary social science. He is still prominent today for his many great contributions to the field of sociology, and though he has many revolutionary concepts, this essay will focus on three; Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and field, and a key sociological factor these concepts help to explain. These three …show more content…

Field
Field is a term that was coined by Bourdieu himself, and is one of his core concepts. Bourdieu investigated the connection between people’s practises and the context in which these practises occur. This led him to his concept of field. Deborah Reed-Danahay says of field (2005, p. 134) ‘Bourdieu viewed the field as a concept that was relational rather than ‘substantialist’ – by which he meant an approach that seeks substances or essences in individuals or groups, and which foregrounds the individual’. A field is defined as a setting in which agents (a person engaging in a social structure) and their social positions are located. A field is a structured social space that is independent and has its own set of rules. Instead of viewing society in terms of economic classes and ideologies, Bourdieu considers the role of educational and cultural factors also. Modern society has many fields; Bourdieu sees everyday life as consisting of many different fields. Amongst these are politics, education and law. It is the site of struggle for power between the dominant and subordinate classes. Bourdieu described the field as a space in which a game took place, between people who are competing for the same thing; the acquisition of capital. A person’s position in a particular field is also dependent on their own capital, and on their habitus. As stated by Michael Grenfell (2004, p. 172) ‘All those active within the field share a resonant habitus; in fact, the field chooses the

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