11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Was My Face Red, June 1, 2010
This review is from: Masculine Domination (Paperback)
A local fraternal organization was presenting Anthony Bourdain in person speaking about his career and showing clips of his shows, to benefit charity. I got a premium ticket, being such a fan of Bourdain and the original TV series of Kitchen Confidential. After the presentation he was to do a signing, so I thought I'd surprise my partner with a signed copy of Bourdain's latest book, which I ordered ahead of time (from Amazon of course). It sounded like vintage Bourdain, Masculine Domination. Some of the funniest moments in KC the series was when Bradley Cooper wouldn't let any female chefs on the "line" as they call it, whereas even the worst male chef he'd give the nod to. This drove the restaurant manager (female) crazy and eventually Bradley Cooper gave in a little, rolling his eyes and heaving great sighs.
The lecture and clips were first rate, but I made a fool of myself when, after waiting on line a good 15 minutes, I asked the famous TV chef to autograph Masculine Domination! He looked at it in disgust, curling his lip and letting loose with some salty language, and his handlers whispered, this is not by Bourdain, it is by Pierre Bourdieu. Were there two of them? I asked, but then they escorted me back to my table where I and some of the other attendees discussed the situation. Was my face red! He wouldn't stop grimacing at me, even in the midst of chatting up the remaining people standing on line with their proper books. The man has written more than his share of books, but it appears that this is not among them.
That said, even though Masculine Domination fails the grade as a Bourdain book about bad kitchens, it's not a bad read. Bourdieu has this concept of "symbolic violence," basically saying that the forces of power no longer need to exert actual violence on the little people to keep the status quo of capitalism going; things have reaches a perfect melting point of image and reality, so that now mere "symbolic violence" is frightening enough. In particular, women, who are "subjected to a labour of socialization which tends to diminish and deny them," so that they reach instinctively for the positions men want them to take, namely, "self-denial, resignation and silence." Bourdieu sees this syndrome as a total one, in operation everywhere around the world, in all nations, rich and poor. Historically speaking, masculine domination has been but one way, argues Bourdieu, to propagate what he refers to as "the masculine vision," and the chief agents have been the family (far and away the leader in ideology), the church, and the educational system. Paradoxically as bourgeois women leave the workforce, they become mainstays of the church, so that from Victorian times onward, to all practical purposes, men have ceded membership in the church to the women otherwise disenfranchised from agency. But men "continue to dominate" both the public sphere and the field of power (particularly "economic power, over production." You can see how reading Bourdieu and Bourdain is but either side of the same coin, and how the hyperselection of women occurs even in the kitchens of the chic-est restaurants in New York, Paris and London, and the bistros surrounding them like barnacles at the bottom of a submarine. So, I was wrong, but I was right at the same time.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
high powered thinking, December 3, 2002
This review is from: Masculine Domination (Paperback)
bourdieu applies his theoretical toolkit to one more field, and, as the hateful reactions of other reviewers testify, it hurts. this is indeed not talk radio and you will need to gather some philosophical/sociological resources to follow bourdieu, but it is completely worth it. in a small book, the foundations are laid of a systematic exploration of gender as a locus of symbolic domination.
here is to hoping bourdieu's numerous students will build on these foundations.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
some context, February 12, 2007
This review is from: Masculine Domination (Paperback)
Bourdieu's structuralist analyses of gender in Kabyle culture and personal reflections on gender in the modern Western world are consistently cogent, thoughtful, and well-presented. A number of other reviewers have called this book "unreadable." It is certainly full of Bourdieu's characteristic jargon, but I would like to note that this jargon is systematically developed throughout all of Bourdieu's work; learning to read it is not unlike learning a language. I therefore would not recommend this text to someone unfamiliar with Bourdieu. First read Distinction, his foundational work on cultural capital, and perhaps Wacquant's introduction to Invitation to a Reflexive Sociology. Take some time. Define and redefine his terminology for yourself. This book, along with his others, will become more readable and, of course, more rewarding.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
