Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 09:49:19 +0100
Subject: Re: a couple of questions


Minoru, how's the weather in Madison? I saw on my TV that there's been lots
of snow in the north of US and in Canada.
You asked for a reference. I hope this is it:
Bourdieu, P. (1990). La domination masculine. "Actes de la recherche en
sciences socilales, 84", pages 2-31.
Then you said: >...notion of the total volume of cultural and economic
capital .... correspondence analysis...social space ... Distinction ...
book or article I should look at...
Yes, I know the perplexing feeling. These graphs are "synthetic" and
"cognitive summaries" of numerous analyses, but Bourdieu does not stress
this fact so firmly. Leaving the reader with a feeling of: "...eh, what IS
this...?"
=46or those with a good command of French, there are books that discusses
Bourdieu's methodology (List below). I do not speak French, so I read other
sources. I found Greenacre & Blasius' book very helpful. It puts the method
of Bourdieu, and his colleagues (correspondence analysis --- a descriptive
statistical method), in perspective, relative other ways of using similar
statistics.

"BEST BOOKS" ON ("BOURDIEU'S USE" OF) CORRESPONDENCE ANALYSIS
Benzecri, J.-P. et al. (1973). L'Analyse des Données. Paris: Dunod.

Broady, D. (1990). Sociologi och epistemologi. Om Pierre Bourdieus
forfattarskap och den historiska epistemologin [Sociology and Epistemology.
On Pierre Bourdieu's Work and the Historical Epistemology. Academic
dissertation, in Swedish with a summary in English]. The Department of
Educational Research, Stockholm Institute of Education, Stockholm: HLS
=46orlag.

Cibois, P. (1981). Analyse des données et sociologie. "L'Année
Sociologique", 31, pages 333-348.

Gifi, A. (1990). Non-linear Multivariate Analysis. Chichester, UK: Wiley.

Greenacre, M.J. (1984). Theory and Application of Correspondence Analysis.
London: Academic Press.

Greenacre, M.J. (1993). Correspondence Analysis in Practise. London:
Academic Press.

Greenacre, M.J., & Blasius, J. (eds.) (1994). Correspondence Analysis in
the Social Sciences. London: Academic Press. NOTE: Includes an article by
Van Meter, Schiltz & Cibois entitled "Correspondence Analysis. A History
and French Sociological Perspective", which is very good.

>... criticisms of Bourdieu's discussion on
>social/cultural reproduction which are found in the field have been too
>often superficial and they have not take enough account of his discussion
>of cultural production such as scientific and literary field...

Yep. I agree. But the critique is found in many parts of the world outside
US. I run into it here in Umea, Sweden, occasionally. Simple-minded people
who have not yet reached our level (Note: Irony). Seriously, Bourdieu's
graphs might indicate a sort of "this it it", casual, cemented descriptions
of reality, but it is far from it. There's a good quote from Bourdieu &
Wacquant, 1992, on this, and I'll put it here:
"...if we make extensive use of correspondence analysis, in preference to
multivariate regression for instance, it is because correspondence analysis
is a relational technique of data analysis whose philosophy correspondence
exactly to what, in my view, the reality of the social world is. It is a
technique which "thinks" in terms of relation, as I try to do precisely
with the notion of field". (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, 96.) Note also that
Bourdieu is trying to show relations, rather than fixed correlations.
Good luck with your project Minoru. Sounds promising. I have written a
short, non-mathematical article myself (in english) about Bourdieu's use of
statistical (correspondence) analysis, and if you or anyone else on the
list would like to, I can send a copy.

Looking forward to hear more from you!

Kent Lofgren, grad.stud.

University of Umea
Pedagogiska Institutionen
S-901 87 Umea
Sweden
Tel.: 46 + (0)90 - 786 64 32 (office)
=46ax.: 46 + (0)90 - 786 66 93 (office)
At the moment, I have the following academic interests: ADE-4 (multivariate
statistics), Bourdieu, Foucault, methodology, the social and scientific
construction of concepts, notions and knowledge about the human body, the
social significance of leisure, physical exercise and sport, social
reproduction, pedagogy, philosophy of science, power and knowledge, and
writing e-mail signatures.
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