In Other Words: Essays Toward a Reflexive Sociology [Paperback]

Pierre Bourdieu et al. (Author), Matthew Adamson (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1990

This volume of interviews, lectures and informal talks provides an introduction to Bourdieu's work and highlights some of the issues which are at the forefront of the sociology of culture today. Bourdieu situates his work in relation to those thinkers who were influential in the formation of his views, from Marx and Durkheim to Levi-Strauss and Wittgenstein and retraces the development of his ideas from his early ethnographic studies to his most recent work on the sociology of cultural fields. He responds to some of the criticisms which have been made of his work and offers his own criticisms of some of his contemporaries, including Althusser, Foucault and Habermas. The volume also contains contributions to the sociology of symbolic forms of religion and of sport, as well as Bourdieu's inaugral lecture at the College de France.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A synthesis and amplification to those already familiar with Bourdieu’s work and a useful introduction for new readers.” —Ethics

“To read In Other Words is to enjoy a mind that works on many levels at once. Bourdieu seems perfectly able to reason coherently about any number of subjects (here he takes up sport, art, fieldwork, literature, philosophy, and opinion polls, among others). . . . It is an excellent informal guide to Bourdieu’s sociological self-understanding. . . . This book may well be just the right introduction to an elegant and important thinker—possibly the most inventive thinker in sociology today.”—American Journal of Sociology

Language Notes

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

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Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (August 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804717257
• ISBN-13: 978-0804717250
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #876,594 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

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great introduction or supplement to Bourdieu's theory, April 6, 2003

By 

Blaine Connor (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Other Words: Essays Toward a Reflexive Sociology (Paperback)

I wish I had known about this book while fighting my way through "Outline of a Theory of Practice". Bourdieu is a compelling social scientist and his ideas only look better after seeing them dissected and explained in this collection of interviews and speeches. Like "Power/Knowledge", a collection of interviews, speeches, and other works by Foucault, this work gives readers a "second chance" to enter an important body of theoretical work. Of course some chapters are more compelling than others, but the good ones are very good indeed, and I found soemthing useful in just about every one. If I had to pick an unforgettable passage in this book, it would be where Bourdieu explained why he writes in such a difficult way--it is on purpose! In sum: this book makes a terribly important but often difficult body of scholarship more accessible.

4 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Understand the thinking of anti globalization fighters, January 30, 2002

By 

Daniel Staeger (Zurich, Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Other Words: Essays Toward a Reflexive Sociology (Paperback)

It is not that you understand all the conclusions. It is not that you share the same point of view. Pierre Bourdieu, who did this January 2002, is the philosophical leader of the people, who do not accept everything as served by the media. Read the recent works of Bourdieu also, and you understand the unrest some people have with today's power sharing in society.
A MUST-READ book to understand "modern" people.