Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 21:29:45 -0500
From: Lee Schlesinger <schlesin-AT-umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Bourdieu and Mauss


Ulle Jaeger wrote:
> 
> I am presently working on the aspect of incorporation in
> Bourdieus concept of habitus. It seems to me that  Bourdieu is drawing - at
> least in part - on "Techniques of the Body" by Marcel Mauss. But alas, I
> havent't found a direct reference yet.
> So this is my question to you: Does anyone know of a text in which Bourdieu
> himself directly refers to Mauss and the Techniques of the Body? 

Dear Ulle and others,

	While there are numerous references to Mauss in *Outline,* these deal
mainly with gifts and reciprocity.  In the opening interview published
in *In Other Words,* Bourdieu mentions prior notions that led to his use
of habitus to "break with Kantian dualism" and cites Mauss, where "there
is an attempt to account for the systematic functioning of the
socialized body."

	I wonder if others here might agree with me, however, that the more
significant influence on the arguments about the embodiment of habitus
and the materiality/worldliness/fleshiness of sense (as orientation,
meaning, and feeling) is Merleau-Ponty.

	Good luck on further work on this, and thanks for your question.

				Lee I. Schlesinger
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