File spoon-archives/bourdieu.archive/bourdieu_1996/96-07-02.141, message 101


Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 08:46:07 -0700
From: Hagen Finley <hagen-AT-violet.berkeley.edu>
Subject: Re: Wondering


 >Doing my research I found that, due to the Bourdieu's approach, we were
>looking only for determinist features, for reproduction proves, and that we
>were forgetting a lot of interesting information. 

You are not very specific about your methodology, but its not obvious to me
why you feel Bourdieu's theory compels you to "look only for determinist
features." In spite of the wieght placed on the objection conditions that
shape habitus, The Logic of Practice argues against mechanistic explanations
of practice.

 I think that maybe to prove
>this approach is not so difficult, and that is easy to end doing easy
>sociology, just describing how reproduction works, while maybe what is
>interesting is to also explaine how change occurs, how in a specific context
>what was going to lead to reproduction ends leadding to change, etc.

I agree these are more difficult questions but again I am not sure how
Bourdieu's approach hampers your inquiry. What is tying your hands?


>If I have to be honest, this kind of approaches that explains everything in
>the terms of the same theoretical explanations, scared me a little. I really
>think that it is a very interesting theory, but I think that is too holistic,
>that it does not pay attention to the details, to the specific interaction
>systems, to the chance, to the paradoxs, to the social change in its whole
>different shapes.

Here I simply have to disagree.  Wacquant has spoken directly to this
question several  times and he cautions that the sophistication of
Bourdieu's methodology often tempts us to view it as an explanation in its
own right, when in fact it is intended to provide the tools for concrete and
detailed research. As it happens,  Bourdieu visited our class today  and in
his discussion he cited his own research a number of times and once again I
was struck by his commitment to tangible research and creative and open
ended analysis.

Hagen Finley
Berkeley, CA

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