From: S.Pines-Martin-AT-iaea.org
Subject: RE: Field
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 09:50:30 +0200


I can't answer this question, but I'll ask another one:
Aren't Bourdieu's concepts of "habitus" and "field" rather analytical
tools fashioned with the aim of explaining/describing social phenomena?
I get the impression that these concepts are too often reified, and then
I worry that we might be mixing up our spontaneous theories of the
social world (that include entities like "persons", "society",
"culture", which are rich in metaphor and associations) with the
rational techniques devised in order to explain it. As I see it, our
rational explanations are motivated by our immediate ("spontaneous")
concerns, and hence it is natural that they should overlap in our
practical understanding; but even so I think it is necessary to keep
them appart because this "break" enhances explanative power, and ensuing
knowledge thereby optimises our way around immediate concerns. "Habitus"
is not the same as "person", and "field" not the same as "society" or
"institution" or ..., although the former analytical concepts in end
effect do alter our understanding (and the practical consequences) of
the latter terms, arising originally from these motivations but turning
against them, "breaking" with them, in order to come back to them with
an altered understanding (a "conversion of world view"). I guess that
"society in itself" *is* already "in the abstract" (the term itself a
historical contingency), that "field" is a tool for relationally
constructing adequate explanations of social *phenomena*, and that it
involves an understanding of "historical contingencies" and of the logic
of practices. Is this right?
Sergio

>-----Original Message-----
>From:	Mitchell D. Wilson [SMTP:lobster-AT-mail.utexas.edu]
>Sent:	Thursday, 24. September 1998 02:58
>To:	bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>Subject:	Field
>
>Hello. Allow me to ask a simple question: is "field" a social
>phenomenon--perhaps society itself in the abstract--that is the sum of
>historical contingencies?
>
>Thank you,
>Mitch
>
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