User:Alexgonzalez25/Field(Bourdieu)

Bourdieu's Field Theory
“The field theory is a network of social relations among the objective positions within it. It is not a set of interactions or inter-subjective ties among individuals. The social world has a great variety of semi-autonomous fields such as art, religion, and higher education.” The field is a competitive place where different types of class, status, education, and many other factors have to do with this field theory. http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/007234962x/student_view0/chapter7/chapter_overview.html

Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist that shared many of his views with other sociologist of and before his time. Bourdieu was best known his writings in his book called A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Bourdieu received his degree from a school in Paris called Ecole Normale SuperieureThere he studied philosophy before he decided to teach for a year. While enlisted in the French Army, Bourdieu decided to study ethnographic research, which laid the foundation for most of his future sociological work. Bourdieu tried to connect his ideas which were embedded in every day life; he is work to be seen as a cultural sociology or a theory of practice. Some of Bourdieu’s biggest contributions to the sociological world were: habitus, field, and symbolic violence. Bourdieu was convinced that people are not classified by their social class but they are classified by what and how much they posses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Bourdieu#Field) One of Bourdieu’s theories was the field theory. In his studies he realized that he had the same views on society as such people like Weber. He felt that society can not be determined on the simple words of economic classes and ideologies. Field is a theory that suggests that people change and struggle in order to pursue their desirable resources. “The concept of field, in particular makes the development of a science of the sacred, of artistic practice, that takes analysis beyond fuzzy references to ‘context’, ‘art world’ and ‘institution’. Field instead suggest the existence of partially independent regions of social activity, such, as artistic practice, structured according to a relation set of struggles that take place over currencies of resources to that field. (Fowler, 142-3)” The field was Bourdieu’s way to put the Habitus concept to work. The field can technically only exist when the habitus exist. The concept means "a system of acquired dispositions functioning on the practical level as categories of perception and assessment... as well as being the organizing principles of action (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/bourd.htm)". Habitus exists though actors, ways of talking, ways of talking, and ways of making things in people’s everyday lives. The habitus is the link between the individuals biased words, and the different world and culture that they are born into. (Jenkins 75) Bourdieu uses an example of the differences between two genders in a Kabylia. Where the way that these two genders walk, talk and stand are totally different depending on their gender. The men in the society walk up high with the chest out and there body orientated to other men, while the females body are more hidden and faced to the ground. (Jenkins 75)

To Bourdieu the field acts as a prism, taking the demands or force and changing them from the dominant economic classes into a logic benefiting its own social well being. The field is then used to change their address in relations to others in the same place and situation. Bourdieu relates this theory to the complex game of chess, where these people are able to engage in certain strategies depending on their position on the board. Players in a superb position will often disguise in order to conserve their position. Where as the players looking to displace or overtake a position will attempt strategies of succession to remove they person in a dominant position. (Fowler 143) Bourdieu’s field can sometimes be explained in a more simple way. The field is also struggles or maneuvers to obtain ones desires to have much wealth. People often do as much as they can to reach there desired level of economic success. They want a high life style, nice housing, a furthered education, successful career, land, power, and anything else that can obtain to raise there social status. (Jenkins 84) A field is seen as a structured system of social positions that are taken by either higher indiduals or institutions. (Jenkins 85) An example of such this could be a lawyer and a judge. The ultimate position in the courts would be a judge. They have more power and are more respected then the lawyers. In some cases lawyers are looking to progress one day into being a judge. The concept of fields can be looked at in three different steps. First the field of power must be understood. This is to be seen as the high or dominate position in society. Next the certain field must contain a specific map to the “social topology”. This would contain the positions that make up the field, and the relationships between them in the competition for this field. Last habitus of the people within the field must be analyzed along with the strategies between the constraints and strategies to reach the top of the field. (Jenkins 86) Fields often change in their own ways. This depends on what type of field it is. The logic, politics, and structure change in manner depending on what type of organization the field is and what tends to go on inside that certain field. Although Bourdieu claims that these fields vary with the different types, they all maintain some type of structure and similarities. All fields have a source that is the dominate person and the dominated. Usually these similarities have two different types of sources. First are the similarities of habitus and practice as they are used in types of different fields. Next is the consequence of power of certain fields. This often occurs in the political world where higher individuals have the power to control the dominated. (Jenkins 86) Bourdieu explains how he thinks the concept is much clearer when the theory is talking about relatively developed fields. These things could be art, education, and literature. (Fowler 144). Although the field theory is a respected theory in the sociological world, like all other theories it is just a theory. The field theory is something that can tie into a lot of other theories to make more sense. Theories like structural functionalism and social space are need to keep the field theory on a stable equilibrium.