Bibliographic Information

Outline of a theory of practice

Pierre Bourdieu ; translated by Richard Nice

(Cambridge studies in social anthropology, 16)

Cambridge University Press, 1977

  • : hc
  • : pbk

Other Title

Esquisse d'une théorie de la pratique, précédé de trois études d'ethnologie kabyle

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Note

Translation with revisions of Esquisse d'une théorie de la pratique

The original edition was published by Librairie Droz S.A. in Switzerland (c1972)

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Outline of a Theory of Practice is recognized as a major theoretical text on the foundations of anthropology and sociology. Pierre Bourdieu, a distinguished French anthropologist, develops a theory of practice which is simultaneously a critique of the methods and postures of social science and a general account of how human action should be understood. With his central concept of the habitus, the principle which negotiates between objective structures and practices, Bourdieu is able to transcend the dichotomies which have shaped theoretical thinking about the social world. The author draws on his fieldwork in Kabylia (Algeria) to illustrate his theoretical propositions. With detailed study of matrimonial strategies and the role of rite and myth, he analyses the dialectical process of the 'incorporation of structures' and the objectification of habitus, whereby social formations tend to reproduce themselves. A rigorous consistent materialist approach lays the foundations for a theory of symbolic capital and, through analysis of the different modes of domination, a theory of symbolic power.

Table of Contents

  • Translator's foreword
  • 1. The objective limits of objectivism
  • 2. Structures and the habitus
  • 3. Generative schemes and practical logic: invention within limits
  • 4. Structures, habitus, power: basis for a theory of symbolic power
  • Notes
  • Index.

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