The Legacy of Pierre Bourdieu

Pierre Bourdieu was widely regarded as the most influential sociologist of his generation, and yet the reception of his work in French-speaking and English-speaking sociology was both different and uneven. The collection explores the legacy of Pierre Bourdieu in contemporary social theory from the standpoint of classical European sociology and from the broader perspective of transatlantic social science. To this end, the volume brings together contributions from prominent scholars in the field, providing a range of perspectives on the continuing relevance of Bourdieurs"s thought to substantive problems in both social and political analysis.Bourdieu was interviewed on several occasions in his career and, by now, most of these interviews have been published and translated into English. The volume contains an interview with Bourdieu which was not previously translated into, let alone published in, English. The elaborate responses given by Bourdieu in this interview illustrate not only that he had a far-reaching appreciation of Weberrs"s writings, but also that Weberian sociology can be considered a cornerstone of the entire edifice of Bourdieusian thought. [NP] In the secondary literature, there has been little in the way of a fruitful dialogue across national sociological cultures. These essays attempt to overcome this intellectual divide by bringing together contributions from French, Belgian, German, and British scholars. This volume pays special attention to Bourdieurs"s roots in classical sociology by closely examining his intellectual connections with Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Eacute;mile Durkheim. In providing an introduction to Bourdieurs"s fundamental concepts (field, habitus, capital, and practice), this volume also provides an introduction to modern sociology.