French Institute pays homage to sociologist Pierre Bourdieu

Greek edition of his most famous work launched

For Bourdieu, culture and education are central to affirming and reproducing social differences. Cultural production helps perpetuate the dominant structure of society.

By Harry van Versendaal - Kathimerini English Edition

Pierre Bourdieu's death in January after a long struggle with cancer inevitably turned the planned launch of the Greek edition of his book «Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste» (Patakis, 2002) into an act of homage.

A large crowd packed the French Institute's auditorium in Athens on Monday to hear a panel of experts delve into Bourdieu's persona and work. These, however, were better explained a bit later by Bourdieu himself, in a filmed portrait of this unique intellectual.

The presentations by Nikos Panayiotopoulos, professor of sociology at the University of Crete, Gerasimos Kousselis, professor of epistemology and sociology of knowledge at the University of Athens, and Panayiotis Poulos, professor of political philosophy at the University of Athens, were mostly concise and stimulating, although the speakers tended to assume great familiarity with Bourdieu's key terms and concepts.

The two-and-a-half-hour documentary, which became an unexpected hit in France after it was released last year, was filmed by Pierre Carles, a longtime Bourdieu enthusiast whose work has often been subjected to censorship in France. In «La Sociologie est un Sport de Combat» (Sociology is a combat sport), Carles presents Bourdieu, the private individual, but also Bourdieu, the public intellectual in action, whether at a France-American video conference in France, quietly listening to a fervent French farmer-activist, Jose Bove, address a crowd of protesters, or discussing neoliberal economics with Nobel laureate Gunter Grass.

Pressed by a radio interviewer to justify the need for sociologists, Bourdieu explains how sociology can help us understand the way in which capital is transmitted through society so as to maintain a state of inertia, thereby sustaining the dominant social structure which is also the legitimate perception of reality. Like a priest who defends the existence of God, Bourdieu says, some people defend the existing status quo because they have a vested interest in it. What is more important, he asserts, is that we should use what we learn from sociology to our advantage: «Sociology is a combat sport for defense, not attack.»

Talking to Grass he says: «The strength of this neoliberalism is that it has been applied, at least in Europe, by people who call themselves socialists. Whether it's Schroeder, Blair or Jospin, these are people who invoke socialism in order to further neoliberalism.»

When, in the film, a fiery critic denounces the «psychiatrists of the suburbs» who diagnose society's ailments, saying: «It's not God. It's Bourdieu (Bour-dieu). You must not confuse them,» and rushes out of a small university amphitheater to the enthusiastic applause of his fellow-students, Bourdieu is unperturbed: «Truth is not measured by hand-clapping,» he replies.

As an exemplary product of the very system he criticizes, Bourdieu can appear vulnerable, but he defends his science and himself. «Being an intellectual is not a disease.» He argues that his methods can give people the instruments to think for themselves, the critical tools to unveil, analyze and unmake preconceived ideas. «I am optimistic that this world can change,» he says, earning a round of applause from the audience.

The film's final scene: a close-up of Bourdieu. The man is alone. Thinking.

«Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste» (originally published in 1984) is Bourdieu's most cited work. It was recently named one of the 20th century's 10 most important sociology texts by the International Sociological Association. In it Bourdieu argues that taste, an acquired «cultural competence,» is used to legitimize social differences. We are defined by the consumer choices we make: «Taste classifies, and it classifies the classifier.»

Bourdieu takes on Kantian aesthetics, the idea of a universal transcendent conception of the aesthetic - what is beautiful is not determined by social influences. For Bourdieu, however, our choices reflect material and social conditions and indicate social and class divisions. Preferences for luxury cars, designer clothes, expensive goods and works of art are shaped by people's habitus - a system of choices adopted through upbringing and education.

Though verbose at times, the book is full of rich and original insights and useful diagrams. The Greek translation is by Kiki Kapsabeli.