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Practical Reason: On the Theory of Action
 
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Practical Reason: On the Theory of Action (Paperback)

by Pierre Bourdieu (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 168 pages
  • Publisher: Polity Press (11 Jun 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0745616259
  • ISBN-13: 978-0745616254
  • Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 156,394 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review
′This is a powerful and archetypal sociology. No aspect of human action or belief escapes demystification.′ BSA Network

′Overall, this is an excellent introduction to Bourdieu′s own work and will be useful to undergraduate and postgraduate students in cultural studies.′ Cultural Studies: General, The Year′s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory

Product Description
In this new volume Pierre Bourdieu – one of the foremost social thinkers of our time – clarifies and elaborates the most fundamental characteristics of his theoretical approach.


Bourdieu′s theory is both a relational philosophy of science dedicated to revealing the objective relations which shape and underpin social life, and a philosophy of action which takes account of agents′ dispositions as well as the structured situations in which they act. This philosophy of action is condensed in a small number of key concepts – habitus, field, capital – and it is defined by the two–way relationship between the objective structures of social fields and the incorporated structures of the habitus.


The key concepts and assumptions of Bourdieu′s approach are exemplified in this volume through a variety of concrete analyses, from a discussion of the formation of the modern state to an account of the family as a site of social reproduction, from an analysis of the economy of symbolic goods to a reflection on the social conditions of political morality.


An excellent and accessible introduction to the work of Bourdieu, Practical Reason will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology, anthropology, politics and philosophy, and throughout the social sciences and humanities generally.

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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Introduction to Bourdieusian Thought Available, 6 Aug 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Practical Reason: On the Theory of Action (Paperback)
It's not very often that an author is able to take a highly complex set of work(s) and summarize them into an easily read and understood piece. While the overviews offered by scholars of Bourdieu, such as Swartz's _Culture and Power_ or Bourdieu and Wacquant's _Invitation to Reflexive Sociology_ prove a broad overview of Bourdieu's work, they generally require that the reader be well versed in the specifics of Bourdieusian analysis to be able to take full advantage of them.

In _Practical Reason_, Bourdieu provides a comprehensive overview of his major ideas, including field, habitus, capital, and reflexivity. He does this without weighting his writing down by citing himself constantly (the difficulty with Swartz) or by bogging himself down in long and confusing questions posited by the analysis of an Other (the difficulty with _Invitation_).

Instead, Bourdieu offers a clearer invitation. Rather than being placed into the position of an outside observer who is being addressed as the Third Person - the audience member - in _Practical Reason_ Bourdieu engages in an exposition of his idea, with you as the only audience member. Not only is this more comfortable to read than being placed into the position of the voyeur of others' conversation, but it also allows a direct interaction with the author.

Another aspect that makes this text an enjoyable introduction is that unlike _Outline of a Theory of Practice_ (the usual entry to Bourdieu) or _The Logic of Practice_, there is much less ethnography to transport the reader into a confusion of cultural (mis)understanding. Of course, for readers who are used to Bourdieu's complex sentences and are familiar with his theory, the lack of direct application may be frustrating, as _Practical Reason_ does not range far beyond theoretical exposition.

However, for first time students and readers who may wish to know more about the ideas of one of France's (and the world's) leading sociological minds, this book is the most comprehensive and understandable introductions available.

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