File spoon-archives/bourdieu.archive/bourdieu_2004/bourdieu.0410, message 50


Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 16:24:06 -0500
Subject: Re: [BOU:] Sexual = Social Libido?
From: Michael Franklin <frank061-AT-umn.edu>



I think field theory explains some social action in terms of the 
interests defined by the logic (culture) of specific fields.  This 
aspect of field theory is the least sociological.  And it seems to have 
a lot in common with ethnography and some of the cultural analysis that 
I've been reading.

Whereas field theory focuses on a specific field and its culture, an 
author such as Foucault looks at the broader culture and identifies the 
logic of discourses such as patriarchy, heterosexism, racism, etc.  
These discourses exist in all of social space, for lack of a better way 
of putting it.  I didn't realize it at the time, but the distinction I 
made between institutionally mediated and culturally mediated is based 
on the difference between an institutional culture (esoteric meanings) 
and popular culture (shared meanings, etc.).

Your other questions speak to what is sociological about culture.  
Unfortunately, the authors I’ve read that are informed by Foucault 
rarely discuss how discursive constructions (ie, a particular 
manifestation of a discourse in a text or individual) varies with 
position in social space, including their own position.

--michael

On Sunday, October 24, 2004, at 06:53  PM, stello wrote:

> Michael,
>
> Though still a very different conception than many feminist theories, 
> does
> speaking in terms of a
> specific field imply all of the fields? Isn't value or meaning in any 
> one
> field dependent on the values in
> the others, with some fields dominant over others? Also, in Bourdieu 
> wouldn't
> "socialization" take place
> as actors move across fields?
>
>>> libido, according to Bourdieu, is often talked about in terms of a
>>> specific field.  In feminist theory, however, the work of
>>> socialization  is diffuse and spread out across social space.
>
> Would you say more about how you differentiate between cultural and
> institutional mediation, and how
> cultural mediation helps move beyond economic determinism?
>
> In your question, you
>>> ask if sexual desire  is only institutionally mediated.  We might 
>>> also
>>> ask if it is  culturally mediated, and this might help us explain
>>> social action that  isn't explained by the economic interests defined
>>> by the logic of a  specific field.
>
> Thanks.
>
> --Pam
>
>> ===== Original Message From Erik Hoogcarspel <jehms-AT-xs4all.nl> ====>> Michael Franklin schreef:
>>
>>> In Practical Reason (1998) on pages 78-79, Bourdieu briefly answers
>>> your question.  He defines the biological libido as an
>>> undifferentiated  impulse and a specific social libido as the
>>> differentiated, socialized  impulse of a specific field.  "There are
>>> in effect as many kinds of  libido as there are fields," he writes.
>>>
>>> I'm taking a class on feminist theory, and your question brings into
>>> focus a question of my own.  The work of socializing the 'biological'
>>> libido, according to Bourdieu, is often talked about in terms of a
>>> specific field.  In feminist theory, however, the work of
>>> socialization  is diffuse and spread out across social space.  The
>>> socialization of  masculine and feminine identities occurs throughout
>>> social space, not  just in a specific field.  In your question, you
>>> ask if sexual desire  is only institutionally mediated.  We might 
>>> also
>>> ask if it is  culturally mediated, and this might help us explain
>>> social action that  isn't explained by the economic interests defined
>>> by the logic of a  specific field.
>>>
>>> michael
>>>
>> The diaries of Jean-Jacques Rousseau are a rich field of study on this
>> subject. His dealings with rich madames on which he was financially
>> dependend and the idyllic(?) marriage with the poor and simple Therèse
>> make an interesting case.
>>
>>
>> erik
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