Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste

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ISBN-10:: 0674212770
ISBN-13:: 9780674212770
Pub. Date:: 10/15/1987
Publisher:: Harvard University Press

ISBN-10:: 0674212770
ISBN-13:: 9780674212770
Pub. Date:: 10/15/1987
Publisher:: Harvard University Press

Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste

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Overview

Distinction is at once a vast ethnography of contemporary France and a dissection of the bourgeois mind. Bourdieu’s subject is the study of culture, and his objective is most ambitious: to provide an answer to the problems raised by Kant’s Critique of Judgment by showing why no judgment of taste is innocent.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674212770
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	10/15/1987
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	640
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.50(d)
Language:	French

About the Author

Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher.

	Preface to the English-Language Edition	xi
	Introduction	1
Part I	A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste	9
1	The Aristocracy of Culture	11
	The Titles of Cultural Nobility	18
	Cultural Pedigree	63
Part II	The Economy of Practices	97
2	The Social Space and Its Transformations	99
	Class Condition and Social Conditioning	101
	A Three-Dimensional Space	114
	Reconversion Strategies	125
3	The Habitus and the Space of Life-Styles	169
	The Homology between the Spaces	175
	The Universes of Stylistic Possibles	208
4	The Dynamics of the Fields	226
	The Correspondence between Goods Production and Taste Production	230
	Symbolic Struggles	244
Part III	Class Tastes and Life-Styles	257
5	The Sense of Distinction	260
	The Modes of Appropriation of the Work of Art	267
	The Variants of the Dominant Taste	283
	The Mark of Time	295
	Temporal and Spiritual Powers	315
6	Cultural Goodwill	318
	Knowledge and Recognition	319
	Education and the Autodidact	328
	Slope and Thrust	331
	The Variants of Petit-Bourgeois Taste	339
	The Declining Petite Bourgeoisie	346
	The Executant Petite Bourgeoisie	351
	The New Petite Bourgeoisie	354
	From Duty to the Fun Ethic	365
7	The Choice of the Necessary	372
	The Taste for Necessity and the Principle of Conformity	374
	The Effects of Domination	386
8	Culture and Politics	397
	Selective Democracy	399
	Status and Competence	405
	The Right to Speak	411
	Personal Opinion	414
	The Modes of Production of Opinion	417
	Dispossession and Misappropriation	426
	Moral Order and Political Order	432
	Class Habitus and Political Opinions	437
	Supply and Demand	440
	The Political Space	451
	The Specific Effect of Trajectory	453
	Political Language	459
	Conclusion: Classes and Classifications	466
	Embodied Social Structures	467
	Knowledge without Concepts	470
	Advantageous Attributions	475
	The Classification Struggle	479
	The Reality of Representation and the Representation of Reality	482
	Postscript: Towards a 'Vulgar' Critique of 'Pure' Critiques	485
	Disgust at the 'Facile'	486
	The 'Taste of Reflection' and the 'Taste of Sense'	488
	A Denied Social Relationship	491
	Parerga and Paralipomena	494
	The Pleasure of the Text	498
	Appendices	503
1	Some Reflections on the Method	503
2	Complementary Sources	519
3	Statistical Data	525
4	Associations: A Parlour Game	546
	Notes	561
	Credits	605
	Index	607
	Tables
1	Class preferences for singers and music	15
2	Aesthetic disposition, by education capital	36
3	Aesthetic disposition, by class and education	37
4	Knowledge of composers and musical works, by education and class of origin	64
5	Furniture purchases in the dominant class, by education and social origin	78
6	Some indicators of economic capital in different fractions of the dominant class, 1966	117
7	Some indicators of cultural practice in different fractions of the dominant class, 1966	118
8	Types of books preferred by different fractions of the dominant class, 1966	119
9	Social origin of members of the dominant class, by class fraction, 1970	121
10	Rate of employment of women aged 25-34, by education, 1962 and 1968	134
11	Changes in morphology and asset structure of the class fractions, 1954-1975	136
12	Changes in morphology and asset structure of the class fractions, 1954-1968	138
13	Morphological changes within the dominant class, 1954-1975	140
14	Morphological changes within the middle class, 1954-1975	140
15	Changes in class morphology and use of educational system, 1954-1968	158
16	Annual household expenditures on food: skilled manual workers, foremen and clerical workers, 1972	181
17	Yearly spending by teachers, professionals and industrial and commercial employers, 1972	184

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Editorial Reviews

Bourdieu’s analysis transcends the usual analysis of conspicuous consumption in two ways: by showing that specific judgments and chokes matter less than an esthetic outlook in general and by showing, moreover, that the acquisition of an esthetic outlook not only advertises upper-class prestige but helps to keep the lower orders in line. In other words, the esthetic world view serves as an instrument of domination. It serves the interests not merely of status but of power. It does this, according to Bourdieu, by emphasizing individuality, rivalry, and ‘distinction’ and by devaluing the well-being of society as a whole.

Vogue - Christopher Lasch

A book of extraordinary intelligence.

Irving Louis Horowitz

One of the more distinguished contributions to social theory and research in recent years… There is in this book an account of culture, and a methodology of its study, rich in implication for a diversity of fields of social research. The work in some ways redefines the whole scope of cultural studies.

Partisan Review - Anthony Giddens

A complex, rich, intelligent book. It will provide the historian of the future with priceless materials and it will bring an essential contribution to sociological theory.

Fernand Braudel

Bourdieu's analysis transcends the usual analysis of conspicuous consumption in two ways: by showing that specific judgments and chokes matter less than an esthetic outlook in general and by showing, moreover, that the acquisition of an esthetic outlook not only advertises upper-class prestige but helps to keep the lower orders in line. In other words, the esthetic world view serves as an instrument of domination. It serves the interests not merely of status but of power. It does this, according to Bourdieu, by emphasizing individuality, rivalry, and 'distinction' and by devaluing the well-being of society as a whole.
— Christopher Lasch

Vogue

One of the more distinguished contributions to social theory and research in recent years...There is in this book an account of culture, and a methodology of its study, rich in implication for a diversity of fields of social research. The work in some ways redefines the whole scope of cultural studies.
— Anthony Giddens

Partisan Review

A book of extraordinary intelligence.
— Irving Louis Horowitz

Commonweal

'In this rich and probing guide to the strategies of pretension in contemporary France, Bourdieu describes how class segments separate from each other by their contrasting attitudes towards art and beauty.' The Observer

'Full of insights of fundamental importance.' Tom Gretton, Oxford Art Journal

'Brilliant insights ... richly informative and insightful.' Barry King, Reviewing Sociology
'In this rich and probing guide to the strategies of pretension in contemporary France, Bourdieu describes how class segments separate from each other by their contrasting attitudes towards art and beauty.' - The Observer

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Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste

Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste

Paperback

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Overview

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About the Author

Table of Contents

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Temporarily Out of Stock Online

Overview

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About the Author

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