Bourdieu and Education

Acts of Practical Theory

Dr Michael Grenfell, David James, Michael Grenfell

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2003
• eBook ISBN: 9781135707507
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This text details the practical applications of Bourdieu's theories in a series of specific pedagogic research studies, showing how his ideas can be put into practice. Language, gender, career decision-making and the experience of higher education students are all covered. Questions are also raised concerning research methodology. The authors examine Bourdieu's interest in the position of the researcher within the research process. Bourdieu's influence is traced in aspects both of theory and practice. Finally, principles, approaches, methods and techniques that may be derived from Bourdieu are suggested, and assessed, for practical use in research.

Chapter 1
Introduction

The work of the French social theorist, Pierre Bourdieu, has attracted increasing interest in recent years. Since initial publications in the late 1950s and early 1960s he has demonstrated considerable intellectual rigour and insight in engaging with the main social science debates of the day. The list of topics and themes he has covered takes in most of the major fields of study. However, it is education to which his attention has repeatedly turned, and it is probably in education that his ideas have had the greatest impact. Much of his early work dealt with educational issues, topics and themes and appeared in two major books: Les Héritiers (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1964) and La Reproduction. Eléments pour une théorie du système d’enseignement (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1970). The latter was published in English in 1977 and quickly became a classic text in the sociology of education canon. Bourdieu also contributed two chapters to the seminal book, Knowledge and Control (1971), which was edited by Michael Young and represented a new sociological direction in the study of the processes of classroom knowledge construction.

Since these early works, Bourdieu has offered a number of articles on topics related to aspects of education and pedagogy. Other major books have dealt with his own French academic field and the training of the national bureaucratic elites: Homo Academicus (1984) and La Noblesse d’Etat (1989a). In 1993, he published a large collection entitled La Misère du Monde (1993b), which chronicles the social production of the ‘poverty’ of experience, including that of the classroom, teacher and staffroom. And, in perhaps his most philosophical discussion to date, he has returned to the notion of the scholastic view in Méditations Pascaliennes (1997).

Interest in Bourdieu has meant that all but the most recent of these books are now available in English, and it is common to find reference to one or two of his works across the expanse of research and literature in education. Bourdieu is a social theorist whose work has addressed a wide range of contemporary topics and themes, including art, the media, language, sport, politics and other socio-cultural issues. His ideas have long been used by sociologists of education to develop their explanations of class, status and power in pedagogic contexts. Much of his work has been developed in a French academic field which has included the principal instigators of post-modernism; namely, Foucault, Derrida, Lacan, Lyotard. Bourdieu has worked to differentiate himself from this trend. At the same time, he has taken on, and argued against, much of the approach and method that goes under the title of objectivity in the social sciences, and which he sees as being so prevalent in an Anglo-Saxon academic world. At the base of this work, therefore, is both a philosophical perspective and practical methodology which have attempted to establish an alternative to the extremes of post-modernist subjectivity and positivist objectivity. Both traditions have deeply marked research and writing on education. The principal point de départ in this book is, consequently, the view that Bourdieu’s ideas offer an epistemological and methodological third way, which has implications for the way we approach enquiry into educational phenomena; for example, how we carry out research, analyse data and present results. Although there are exceptions, discussion of his work so far amongst western educationalists has tended to consider it mainly in terms of theoretical concepts rather than its practical applications. Such theoretical discussion has often carried an explicit critical objective. Whilst it cannot be said that we are uncritical in this book, our purpose of considering the practical application of Bourdieu’s ideas in educational research requires a generally positive engagement with those ideas.

Our main aims are two-fold: firstly, to present the main components of Bourdieu’s theoretical position in a way which highlights its implications for education; secondly, to offer examples of individuals using the approach in educational research so as to indicate how the ideas might be employed in practical situations. The book is a fully integrated text but not of the kind written by a single author. Nor does it present an exclusively linear narrative structure. There are many voices throughout the ten chapters. One of them is Bourdieu’s own, and we have made use of the available publications as a way of indicating his main theoretical arguments. We have also included contributions from researchers who have drawn extensively on Bourdieu’s ideas in their own work. Some of these accounts report the words, opinions, and experiences of others in a range of educational contexts. However, the book is not simply an edited collection of papers. It seeks instead to approach Bourdieu’s work from directions that are distinct, but which, when read together, make up a composite picture of what it is to use these ideas in practice and of the nature of our understandings arising from such an undertaking.

Our project is both modest and ambitious. It is modest in that it recognizes that what we offer can hardly do justice to Bourdieu’s voluminous writings and the very many sophisticated points of detail he has made regarding education over almost four decades of writing about it. Moreover, the practical examples we include can also only be considered as a small beginning to the type of research that is possible from this perspective. Yet whilst we do not wish to insist that a Bourdieuian approach is always or automatically the best way to research educational phenomena, our project is an ambitious one because it is based on a particular conviction. Put simply, this is that research in terms of Bourdieu’s theory of practice offers insights and understandings not readily visible in other approaches.

We recognize that what we present goes beyond a simple replication of Bourdieu’s own work. The practical case examples we include are very different from Bourdieu’s. Nevertheless, we believe that many of the issues he explores in an explicit fashion, and the connected issues he raises, have direct and generally applicable implications for numerous aspects of educational research. The book includes contributions from those researching language, relations between school and the family, young people’s career choices and elements within the academic discourse in higher education. These accounts demonstrate the way others have drawn on Bourdieu’s ideas and felt, as a consequence, that they have been able to enrich their own thematic explorations. The underlying invitation in the book is for others to apply the approach to particular research areas in similar ways in order to assess its ultimate worth. The book is aimed at students at a variety of levels, both graduate and post-graduate, as well as academics and researchers working in education. The issues raised and approaches adopted will also be of interest to teachers and others working at what is still often called ‘the chalk face’.

The main themes of the book are both theoretical and practical, and these preoccupations are reflected in its structure. Early chapters set out the basic theoretical position and the central terms of analysis. This coverage is treated from a socio-cultural perspective in order to indicate when and how the ideas arose and their relevance to the contemporary debates of the day. We also look at the philosophical justifications for Bourdieu’s theory of practice.

The core of the book contains detail of the practical applications of Bourdieu’s theories to a series of specific pedagogic studies, with the intention of showing how the ideas have been used in practice. Diane Reay examines the relationship between home and the school in terms of gender differences. Michael Grenfell reviews approaches to analysing classroom language from a Bourdieuian perspective. Philip Hodkinson offers a critique of representations of young people’s career decision making, whilst David James looks at elements of the academic discourse in higher education. Some aspects of these applications are much as we would expect from a conventional sociological treatment. In each of these cases, particular dimensions and elements of educational processes are discussed from a perspective provided by Bourdieu’s work, and it is shown how these ideas shaped the approach taken and the conclusions drawn. As a follow up to these chapters, the writers involved are invited to reflect on their own experience of using the approach. Here, elements of the relationship between the researcher and the researched are rendered visible in a way that is not common in discussion on education. The nature of the various dimensions of reflexivity available in the research process is discussed across these accounts rather than in terms of each of their particular characteristics; for example, the relationship between the researcher and the researched and the way that theoretical perspectives develop during research.

Reflexivity will be a principal concept throughout the book, and, at key points in the text, people appear as individuals. However, this heightened profile of the writer should not be mistaken for a fascination with their personality. Rather, the issue at stake is the understanding of the social world as an engagement of individuals with it in practical situations. We see this to be no less true for the processes and techniques undertaken in social science and educational research than in other topics of investigation. The theory of practice outlined will hence be discussed and applied to the activities involved in carrying out research as much as to the object of the research itself.

A detailed discussion of what it is to conduct research within a Bourdieuian framework is set out as a way of suggesting to others how they might go about thinking through their own research projects in these terms. The intention here is to be suggestive rather than prescriptive. We do not want to appear to be telling other educational researchers how they should be conducting research. At the same time, we do not want to be overly tentative, laissez-faire,or methodologically timid. Our intention is to offer a range of case examples of research undertaken in Britain in the 1990s in a way which is suggestive of how similar research might be carried out. What these examples show is the same basic structures in operation in different contexts.

The book will be of interest to those new to research as well as those familiar with Bourdieu’s work but who have not applied it in any direct way to particular educational contexts. Different readers may want to approach the book in different ways. Those interested primarily in a discussion of the basic theoretical position will find this in Chapter 2. After this, practical issues of research methodology are included in Parts II and IV. The four key pedagogic topics are dealt with individually in Part II. Alternatively, those seeking a more philosophical account of Bourdieu’s main theoretical position may well wish to start with Chapter 3, where details of the various writings in the light of major themes in educational research are also given. Other readers who are mainly interested in questions of reflexivity may turn first to Parts III and IV. There are, then, at least four ways of reading this book.

As a final point of introduction, we would wish to emphasize one aspect of Bourdieu’s work which is perhaps so obvious that it is sometimes overlooked. We refer to Bourdieu’s own socio-cultural context. Bourdieu works in a French academic field. Most of his work is written first in French. Much of this writing is necessarily shaped by the thematic preoccupations of his home field. There is, of course, rivalry between competing factions within it. We can only ever view these ongoing intellectual battles from a distance, and only ever take partial account of them in our own uses and potential misuses of the ideas generated within such struggles to establish the dominant arguments. As shall become evident later in the book, the use of language itself also renders problematic the terms of the discussion; it is certainly not true that translated text can always capture the full sense of the originally intended meaning. Here we aim to render as accessible some of the principal ideas in Bourdieu’s work. Whenever possible we have indicated where the more obvious misunderstandings may lie, and have illustrated major ideas with reference to familiar educational contexts. Different contributors to the book have also chosen to work from either French or English versions of Bourdieu’s texts, or to use both. There are often important differences between the two, and we would not wish to suppress the possibilities offered by working with originals. However, for the purposes of this book, quotations are offered uniquely in English; either according to published translations or our contributors’ own interpretations of the French texts. We feel this is preferable to insisting on only using the English versions. Readers should note that unless indicated ‘own translation’, the reference is to the published English text.

Part I
Bourdieu in Education

Anyone encountering Bourdieu’s work is immediately struck by the range of theoretical concepts he employs; for example, field, habitus capital, etc. What is the meaning of these terms and why are they necessary? This part of the book answers these questions, but it does so in two ways as represented by its two separate chapters.

Chapter 2. sets out to define the basic terms and to explain the issues of theory and practice underlying them. Bourdieu is a sociologist with sociological preoccupations. However, the themes raised in his methodological discussions have implications for the whole of social science research in general and education in particular. This chapter shows how this is so. The intention is to provide a theoretical and conceptual map within which the practical applications in later chapters can be located.

Chapter 3, approaches these theoretical and practical issues from a more philosophical direction. Again, the accent is on showing the way Bourdieu’s ideas have developed in response to a range of key epistemological issues. This discussion is set in a historical context. What the various issues meant for educationalists and the way they responded to Bourdieu’s work is also discussed. The points raised are thus connected to the hot debates of the day. The term epistemology is adopted to indicate the way knowledge is used in and gained from educational research. This knowledge has a different character and status according to the type of approach adopted. The ‘break’ mentioned in the chapter title refers to the attempt to move away from pre-established methodological positions. Why this should be necessary is the central purpose of this chapter. Bourdieu’s own background is also referred to in order to indicate the roots of his main theoretical position. Similar accounts are used later in the book in order to highlight the relationship between the researcher and their research.

Chapter 2
Theory, Practice and Pedagogic Research

Introduction

In this chapter, Bourdieu’s basic terms of analysis will be described and explained; for example, field, capital, habitus. We begin the chapter with a broader discussion of prevailing approaches to educational research, and then connect these approaches with Bourdieu’s own theory of practice in order to show up the relevance of the connecting themes. The structure of the chapter seeks to place Bourdieu’s terms of analysis within the context of British educational research and its struggles with such notions as theory and practice; objectivity and subjectivity; and the various paradigmatic approaches to these.

Theory and the Idea of Paradigms in Educational Research

As any field of social science, educational research has undergone enormous changes in the course of its post-war development. For the most part, this development can be seen as a gradual move away from semi-experimental investigations based on the statistical analysis of empirical data to more qualitative approaches aimed at naturalistic enquiries into a range of educational contexts. Throughout these changes, the role, form and status of theory and practice in educational research have been continuously debated. What is the nature of theory? How is it represented? Is it prior to or arising from analysis of the world? What methods are used to conduct this analysis? How do the outcomes of research relate to the shaping of educational policy and practice? Bourdieu’s major statement on these issues is his Outline of a Theory of Practice, which was published in 1972 in France and in English translation in 1977. It is worth spending a little time considering the title of this book, as it does give us some clue as to the intention behind it. Firstly, it is an ‘outline’; in other words, a basic structure only— there is much detail to fill in. Secondly, it is ‘a’theory—one synthetic description. An element of post-modernist contingency and doubt is therefore retained. Thirdly, theory is enjoined to practice. It is not theory for its own sake in some idealistic, platonic realm, but is intricately linked to practical activity. Before looking at the detail behind this theory of practice, it might be helpful to consider how issues of theory and practice have been represented in education in recent decades.

An Early View

Up until the 1950s, theory in educational research was regarded in much the same way as theory in the physical, normative sciences. For example, the educational philosopher O’Connor (1957) saw educational theory as a way of developing, connecting and evaluating hypotheses in order to understand particular educational phenomena. As education is a practical activity, theory is often seen as a means to forming or justifying certain forms of methodology or pedagogy. The normative, scientific view of theory might see it as improving teaching and learning by directly applying theoretical findings to classroom practices.

In the 1960s, however, a major shift took place. The British philosopher Paul Hirst argued that an applied ‘science’ view of educational theory and practice misrepresented the nature of theory in an educational context. For him, educational theory was distinct from theories derived from the normative sciences:

the word theory is used as it occurs in the natural sciences where it refers to a single hypothesis or a logically interconnected set of hypotheses that have been confirmed by observation. It is this sense of the word that is said to provide us with standards by which we can assess the values and use of any claimant to the title theory. (Hirst, 1966, p. 38)

Hirst pointed out that if we judge educational theory by these standards it comes off very badly. We had to find new ways to connect theory and ‘facts’ in educational contexts. Teaching and learning take place in highly complex, contextdependent sites, where unpredictability and individual idiosyncrasy are the norm rather than the exception. A different way of thinking is needed which will better represent the reality of education. Hirst subsequently attempted to redefine educational theory as ‘the essential background to rational educational practice, not as a limited would-be scientific pursuit’ (ibid., p. 40). Educational theory for Hirst was less knowledge for its own sake than ‘knowledge that is organized for determining some practical activity’ (ibid.). Theory, in this sense, is not so much the means by which we can understand and explain practical educational activity, as the way we might make choices to effect and determine that activity in the first place. As Hilliard puts it: ‘scientific theory is descriptive, educational theory is predictive’ (1971, p. 42). The word predictive is used in the sense of individuals being seen to master educational pra...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Part I: Bourdieu in Education
• Part II: Practical Applications
• Part III: The Practice of Theory
• Part IV: Theory as Method
• Notes on Contributors
• Bibliography