Photography: A Middle-Brow Art
The everyday practice of photography by millions of amateur photographers may seem to be a spontaneous and highly personal activity. But France's leading sociologist and cultural theorist Pierre Bourdieu and his research associates show that few cultural activities are more structural and systematic than photography.

This perceptive and wide-ranging analysis of the practice of photography reveals the logic implicit in this cultural field. For some social groups, photography is primarily a means of preserving the present and reproducing moments of collective celebration, whereas for other groups it is the occasion of an aesthetic judgment in which photographs are endowed with the dignity of works of art. Bourdieu and his associates examine the socially differentiated forms of photographic practice by drawing on the results of surveys and interviews and by analyzing the attitudes and characteristics of both amateur and professional photographers.

First published n 1965, Photography provides an excellent opportunity to observe key parts of Bourdieu's theories at a formative stage. Ideas that will become central to his thought—the habitus, the structuring of taste by class position, people's use of taste to distinguish themselves from the classes to which they are adjacent, and the internalization of objective probabilities—make an early appearance here. It is the first study to integrate survey research and anthropological observation in the manner for which Bourdieu has become justly renowned.

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Photography: A Middle-Brow Art
The everyday practice of photography by millions of amateur photographers may seem to be a spontaneous and highly personal activity. But France's leading sociologist and cultural theorist Pierre Bourdieu and his research associates show that few cultural activities are more structural and systematic than photography.

This perceptive and wide-ranging analysis of the practice of photography reveals the logic implicit in this cultural field. For some social groups, photography is primarily a means of preserving the present and reproducing moments of collective celebration, whereas for other groups it is the occasion of an aesthetic judgment in which photographs are endowed with the dignity of works of art. Bourdieu and his associates examine the socially differentiated forms of photographic practice by drawing on the results of surveys and interviews and by analyzing the attitudes and characteristics of both amateur and professional photographers.

First published n 1965, Photography provides an excellent opportunity to observe key parts of Bourdieu's theories at a formative stage. Ideas that will become central to his thought—the habitus, the structuring of taste by class position, people's use of taste to distinguish themselves from the classes to which they are adjacent, and the internalization of objective probabilities—make an early appearance here. It is the first study to integrate survey research and anthropological observation in the manner for which Bourdieu has become justly renowned.

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Photography: A Middle-Brow Art

Photography: A Middle-Brow Art

by Pierre Bourdieu
Photography: A Middle-Brow Art

Photography: A Middle-Brow Art

by Pierre Bourdieu

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Overview

The everyday practice of photography by millions of amateur photographers may seem to be a spontaneous and highly personal activity. But France's leading sociologist and cultural theorist Pierre Bourdieu and his research associates show that few cultural activities are more structural and systematic than photography.

This perceptive and wide-ranging analysis of the practice of photography reveals the logic implicit in this cultural field. For some social groups, photography is primarily a means of preserving the present and reproducing moments of collective celebration, whereas for other groups it is the occasion of an aesthetic judgment in which photographs are endowed with the dignity of works of art. Bourdieu and his associates examine the socially differentiated forms of photographic practice by drawing on the results of surveys and interviews and by analyzing the attitudes and characteristics of both amateur and professional photographers.

First published n 1965, Photography provides an excellent opportunity to observe key parts of Bourdieu's theories at a formative stage. Ideas that will become central to his thought—the habitus, the structuring of taste by class position, people's use of taste to distinguish themselves from the classes to which they are adjacent, and the internalization of objective probabilities—make an early appearance here. It is the first study to integrate survey research and anthropological observation in the manner for which Bourdieu has become justly renowned.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780804726894
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Publication date: 03/01/1996
Edition description: 1
Pages: 232
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Pierre Bourdieu is Professor of Sociology at the Collège de France and Director of the Center for European Sociology at the École de Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.

Table of Contents


Preface.
Introduction.
Part I: .
1. The Cult of Unity and Cultivated Differences (Pierre Bourdieu).
2. The Social Definition of Photography (Pierre Bourdieu).
Part II: .
3. Aesthetic Ambitions and Social Aspirations: The Camera Club as a Secondary Group (Robert Castel and Dominique Schnapper).
4. Mechanical Art, Natural Art: Photographic Artists (Jean-Claude Chamboredon).
5. Professional Men or Men of Quality: Professional Photographers (Luc Boltanski and Jean-Claude Chamboredon).
Notes.
Index.
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