Full Description
This is the first comprehensive description of Pierre Bourdieu's theory of culture and habitus. Within the wider intellectual context of Bourdieu's work, this book provides a systematic reading of his assessment of the role of `cultural capital' in the production and consumption of symbolic goods.
Bridget Fowler outlines the key critical debates that inform Bourdieu's work. She introduces his recent treatment of the rules of art, explains the importance of his concept of capital - economic and social, symbolic and cultural - and defines such key terms as habitus, practice and strategy, legitimate culture, popular art and distinction.
The book focuses particularly on Bourdieu's account of the nature of capitalist modernity, on the emergence of bohemia and, with the growth of the market, the invention of the artist as the main historical response to the changed place of art.
Contents
PART ONE: INTERPRETATIVE STUDIES
Situating Bourdieu
Cultural Theory and Sociological Perspectives
Bourdieu's Cultural Theory
Bourdieu, Postmodernism, Modernity
The Historical Genesis of Bourdieu's Cultural Theory
PART TWO: CRITICAL INVESTIGATIONS
Bourdieu and Modern Art
The Case of Impressionism
The Popular and the Middlebrow
Bourdieu, the Popular and the Periphery
Conclusion
