Culture and Power - Bourdieu's Sociology - Contemporary Academic Trends

Author: David Swartz (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Culture and Power is a highly acclaimed work in the field of sociology, particularly in Bourdieu studies. Bourdieu is one of the most influential social theorists in the world today, and his works have been exerting an increasingly significant impact on the Chinese academic community since the 1990s. However, for Chinese scholars unfamiliar with the French intellectual and cultural context, interpreting Bourdieu is not an easy task. As a comprehensive and critical examination of Bourdieu's works, this book explores one of the core themes of Bourdieu's theory—the relationship between culture and power. It clearly defines and organizes the fundamental concepts of Bourdieu's sociology, and presents his social theory's academic origins with detailed evidence. The book also analyzes how Bourdieu synthesized Western sociological theories and practices from Durkheim, Marx, Weber, and beyond, as well as how he was influenced by thinkers such as Sartre, Lévi-Strauss, and Althusser.