Bridge between worlds: relating position and disposition in the mathematical field

Using ethnographic observations and interview based research I document the production of research mathematics in four European research institutes, interviewing 45 mathematicians from three areas of pure mathematics: topology, algebraic geometry and differential geometry. I use Bourdieu's notions of habitus, field and practice to explore how mathematicians come to perceive and interact with abstract mathematical spaces and constructions. Perception of mathematical reality, I explain, depends upon enculturation within a mathematical discipline. This process of socialisation involves positioning an individual within a field of production. Within a field mathematicians acquire certain structured sets of dispositions which constitute habitus, and these habitus then provide both perspectives and perceptual lenses through which to construe mathematical objects and spaces. I describe how mathematical perception is built up through interactions within three domains of experience: physical spaces, conceptual spaces and discourse spaces. These domains share analogous structuring schemas, which are related through Lakoff and Johnson's notions of metaphorical mappings and image schemas. Such schemas are mobilised during problem solving and proof construction, in order to guide mathematicians' intuitions; and are utilised during communicative acts, in order to create common ground and common reference frames. However, different structuring principles are utilised according to the contexts in which the act of knowledge production or communication take place. The degree of formality, privacy or competitiveness of environments affects the presentation of mathematicians' selves and ideas. Goffman's concept of interaction frame, front-stage and backstage are therefore used to explain how certain positions in the field shape dispositions, and lead to the realisation of different structuring schemas or scripts. I use Sewell's qualifications of Bourdieu's theories to explore the multiplicity of schemas present within mathematicians' habitus, and detail how they are given expression through craftwork and bricolage. I argue that mathematicians' perception of mathematical phenomena are dependent upon their positions and relations. I develop the notion of social space, providing definitions of such spaces and how they are generated, how positions are determined, and how individuals reposition within space through acquisition of capital