Theory of practice

Inevitably, central to this chapter is Bourdieu’s Outline of a Theory of Practice (Bourdieu, 1977b) which was a translation and revision of Esquisse d’une théorie de la pratique, précédé de trois études d’ethnologie kabyle (Bourdieu, 1972). Before coming to an assessment of the ‘theory’ which Bourdieu advanced in these two texts, however, there is the need to interpret some aspects of his social and intellectual trajectory in the first 40 years of his life (1930-70). This chapter will also consider the importance of Le métier de sociologue (Bourdieu, Chamboredon and Passeron, 1968), translated as The Craft of Sociology (Bourdieu, Chamboredon and Passeron, 1991b) and comment on the relationship between Bourdieu’s thinking and that of Bachelard, Althusser and Habermas amongst others