Outline of a Theory of Practice

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Cambridge University Press, Jun 2, 1977 - Social Science - 248 pages
Outline of a Theory of Practice is recognized as a major theoretical text on the foundations of anthropology and sociology. Pierre Bourdieu, a distinguished French anthropologist, develops a theory of practice which is simultaneously a critique of the methods and postures of social science and a general account of how human action should be understood. With his central concept of the habitus, the principle which negotiates between objective structures and practices, Bourdieu is able to transcend the dichotomies which have shaped theoretical thinking about the social world. The author draws on his fieldwork in Kabylia (Algeria) to illustrate his theoretical propositions. With detailed study of matrimonial strategies and the role of rite and myth, he analyses the dialectical process of the 'incorporation of structures' and the objectification of habitus, whereby social formations tend to reproduce themselves. A rigorous consistent materialist approach lays the foundations for a theory of symbolic capital and, through analysis of the different modes of domination, a theory of symbolic power.
 

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Contents

THE OBJECTIVE LIMITS OF OBJECTIVISM
1
From the mechanics of the model to the dialectic of strategies
3
From the rules of honour to the sense of honour
10
Practice and discourse about practice
16
The fallacies of the rule
22
Case study parallelcousin marriage
30
The state of the question
32
official kin and practical kin
33
GENERATIVE SCHEMES AND PRACTICAL LOGIC INVENTION WITHIN LIMITS
96
The calendar and the synoptic illusion
97
Economy of logic
109
cosmogonic practice
114
Union and separation
124
Thresholds and rites of passage
130
Reunion of contraries and denial
132
Making use of indeterminacy
140

Officializing strategies
38
Collective beliefs and white lies
43
The ordinary and the extraordinary
52
Matrimonial strategies and social reproduction
58
STRUCTURES AND THE HABITUS
72
Structures habitus and practices
78
The dialectic of objectification and embodiment
87
The habitus and homologies
143
STRUCTURES HABITUS POWER BASIS FOR A THEORY SYMBOLIC POWER
159
Symbolic capital
171
Modes of domination
183
Notes
198
Index
240
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