The Saussurean Influence in Pierre Bourdieu's Relational Sociology

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2354474
AutoresWillem Schinkel (0000-0002-8154-6245, Erasmus University Rotterdam), Jacques Tacq (Catholic University of Brussels)
Ano2004
Volume19
Fascículo1
Páginas51-70
Data de publicação2004-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0268-5809 • E-ISSN: 1461-7242
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0268580904040920
OpenAlexW1988358613
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas13
Referências citadas26

In this contribution the relationship between Pierre Bourdieu's theory of class and semiotics is clarified. It is therefore focused on the relational logic that underpins his analysis in Distinction. It is argued that Bourdieu's relational logic stems for a large part from Saussure. The differences Bourdieu identifies as signifying classes do so only as arbitrary signs and not because of any intrinsic qualities. Furthermore, it is argued that this relational logic is a necessary completion in Bourdieu's analysis, because of his rejection of Kantian aesthetics, in which an immediate understanding of intrinsic quality is a central point. Both the Kantian and the Saussurean influence are given in the title and subtitle of his work: Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. This clarification of Bourdieu's chief methodological principle shows how Bourdieu, who, in his later years, became more and more engaged in public debates, has always been a critical thinker

Cultural capital · Epistemology · Habitus · Judgement · Semiotics · Social science · Sociology · Subtitle · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Critical Realism in Sociology · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Dynamics