File spoon-archives/bourdieu.archive/bourdieu_1998/bourdieu.9804, message 57


From: sama-AT-intercity.it
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 1998 20:31:11 +0200
Subject: Re: teaching undergrads Bourdieu


>>>>> "Kent" == Kent Strock <deford-AT-omni.cc.purdue.edu> writes:

    Kent> I will be teaching a 300 level sociology course, called
    Kent> American Society in the fall and very much want to use
    Kent> Bourdieu.  The problem is that purdue is not know for
    Kent> flexible and innovative thinkers and the normal difficulties
    Kent> in teaching his work are only made worse.  I would
    Kent> appreciate any advice or information from people who may
    Kent> have used Bourdieu in an undergrad teaching situation.
    Kent> thank you, kent strock deford-AT-omni.cc.purdue.edu

I never TEACHED any sociology course, but  I attended several of them,
some time ago - so I guess  my opinion could  be interesting for those
on the other side ;-).

I think that one  of the most interesting  works  of Bourdieu, from  a
teaching point of  view, is "La distinction",  as, in my opinion,  the
concepts  contained in  that work can  be quite  easily be used  for a
comparative  analysis  of several   other sociological subjects  - for
example, in  the sociology course I last  attended  we used Bourdieu's
perspective to observe why the opinions expressed  by Nobel prizes are
very often greatly esteemed, even if they refer to a "field" ;-) which
is miles away from  their own (for example, it's  quite common here in
Italy to hear Prof. Rubbia, a physician, express his opinions on Italy
economic situation).  We concluded that there  were several factors at
work, one of which was surely the might  of the cultural capital which
can extend its  "grip" on many different areas.   Then we analysed how
the  Nobel mechanism was an example  of the conjuction of personal and
of institutional charisma, and so we threw in Max Weber. 

To give  another example, we did  a  parallel between "La Distinction"
and  "Lettera ad una professoressa" (A  letter  to a (female) teacher)
which is a book  written by don Milani,  an italian priest who, in the
'60s, said that giving a bad  mark to a  poor student (when he said "a
poor student" he meant "a _really_ poor student" - we're talking about
depressed areas, where  the analphabetism could  reach 60%-70% of  the
population) was not fair even if he actually  deserved it, because the
poor  student lacked a "cultural  capital"  (!) which the rich student
insted had from its own birth. And so on.

As I think I already said, I think that  another wonderful book, to be
used in conjuction with any of Bourdieu's  works, is "Reponses", which
is a long interview  in which Bourdieu explains  and clarifies most of
his concepts - such as "field", "capital", "habitus", and so on.

Just my two cents. ;-)

Regards,

Andrea Glorioso

P.S.: please forgive  by bad english and my  italian tendency to write
      long and convoluted sentences ;-).
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