Academic Discourse: Linguistic Misunderstanding and Professorial Power [Paperback]

Pierre Bourdieu et al. (Author), Jean-Claude Passeron (Author), Monique De Saint Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0804726884 | ISBN-13: 978-0804726887

In this innovative work on culture and education, Pierre Bourdieu and his associates examine the role of language and linguistic misunderstanding in the teaching contexts of higher education.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press (March 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804726884
• ISBN-13: 978-0804726887
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,660,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) was one of the most influential social scientists of the twentieth century. A professor of sociology at the Collège de France, he is the author of thirty-six books, including Distinction, named one of the twentieth century's ten most important works of sociology.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An empirical work, but not the best of Bourdieu or the class of thought, August 17, 2005

By 

Vinay Varma "VinVar" (India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Academic Discourse: Linguistic Misunderstanding and Professorial Power (Paperback)

This is a book that you can complete in a single sitting for the wrong reasons -- it has hardly much to offer you. The book consists of a set of empirical studies and was written much before Bourdieu's other works, but was introduced to English readers much later than his better works.

The book shows how the education system rewards certain kinds of articulations which subscribe to its jargon and rejects points of view differently articulated (either in terms of the language of articulation or the content of articulation).

The insights of the books are a pre-cursor to Bourdieu's educational masterpiece 'Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture', which exposed the mechanisms of power that operate in determining educational oppurtunities and rewards.

This particular book, however, pales in comaprison to the writer's later work and the monumental work of Basil Bernstein (Class, Codes and Control, 3 vols.) who preceded Bourdieu and inspired him.

The biggest weakness of the book perhaps is that it is empiricism in the way the French do it, rather than the way Germans or Anglo-Saxons do it. It is more journalistic than based on rigor of method. The questionnaires administered are lop-sided. Statistical quality control is almost absent.

This is not to deny that it offers insights of value. But it is preferable to seek the insights in Bourdieu's more mature works, rather than spend the same amount of time over this half-way house of poor empiricism and weakly articulated theory.