"Problems of Sociology" Author: [France] Pierre Bourdieu Publisher: Baideya | Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House Translator: Cao Jinyu

- Editor's Recommendation -

★ An action plan for self-analysis

“People need a scientific gaze that is both object-oriented and understanding. When it is turned toward a person, that person may accept himself or herself, and even put forward his or her own claims and demand the right to be himself or herself.”

★A sociological knowledge "arsenal" for non-professionals

In the articles collected in this book, Bourdieu bluntly stated that he "refused to 'preach to believers'" and resolutely turned his attention to non-professional readers and dominated groups, and devoted all his energy to teaching them the thinking methods of sociology: "We must take the problem into our own hands... You can obtain the intellectual resources to understand these things. Don't let your indignation and blindness deprive you of the possibility of using the tools of understanding. Being an intellectual is not a disease."

★A practical reader that provides an overview of Bourdieu's research methods and topics

Bourdieu uses concise yet rigorous language to explain his typical research topics, theoretical methods and analytical approaches, and frankly analyzes his various struggles with sociologists' own deep-rooted assumptions.

★In this book, Pierre Bourdieu attempts to meet two requirements that are often seen as contradictory: to speak a scientific, self-made language (which is one of the conditions for breaking with the spontaneous social philosophy carried by everyday language), and at the same time to pass this language on to those who are in a dominated position and deprived of intellectual weapons...Here, Bourdieu's work is far from anti-intellectual, but is based on a keen (perhaps illusory) understanding of the responsibility of intellectuals. "All progress in the understanding of necessity is a potential progress of freedom": intellectuals in a position of knowledge production can arm the deprived with analytical tools that may make their resistance to the effects of domination more conscious and their understanding of the social world smoother. - Roger Chartier

★ Bourdieu succinctly introduces his ideas and works that have had a profound impact on general social theory... Like his other works, this book goes straight to the core elements of social science theory. It invites readers to explore a dangerous, but humanistic and optimistic sociology. - "Anthropological Quarterly"

- Introduction -

"...all progress in understanding the laws governing the social world increases people's awareness of necessity...and thus gives people more freedom." In this regard, as a reader, and more generally, as a member of the general public, understanding sociology and understanding how sociologists understand and analyze ourselves is a self-liberating undertaking.

This book is a collection of 21 interviews, lectures and conference papers by the famous sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. In this book, Bourdieu not only uses his sociological methods and basic concepts (field, habitus, capital, investment, etc.) to analyze various fields of popular culture (sports, literature, fashion, music, etc.), but also intersperses his philosophical reflections on the epistemology and methodology of social sciences in these interesting analyses.

Bourdieu strives to make what he has learned public, to demonstrate the sociologist's thinking and analysis process, to lead readers into the "back kitchen" of social science, and to warn us: Don't identify with an idea, but become the master of a way of thinking.

About the Author · · · · · ·