Not class but struggle - Helda

155 Pages·1999·0.88 MB·French

Not Class But Struggle
N O T C L A S S B U T S T R U G G L E
Critical Ouvertures to Pierre Bourdieu’s Sociology
Keijo Rahkonen
University of Helsinki • Department of Social Policy
Research Reports • 1/1999
ISBN:
951-45-8676-X (PDF-version)
Helsingin yliopiston verkkojulkaisut
Helsinki 1999
Copyright © Keijo Rahkonen 1999
First published 1999
Publisher:
Department of Social Policy
University of Helsinki
P O Box 18
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki
Finland
ISSN 0356-1267
ISBN 951-45-8479-1
Printed in Finland by Tammer-Paino Oy, Tampere
To my mother and the memory of my father
Contents
List of Figures and Tables 8
Acknowledgements 9
Introduction 13
1 Pierre Bourdieu as Homo Academicus: Studying Bourdieu’s
Thought from a Bourdieusian Perspective 22
2 Taste as a Struggle: Bourdieu and Nietzsche 43
3 The Field of Intellectuals: The Case of Finland 62
4 Truth and Fiction: On the Biographical Fallacy
– A Critical Note 87
5 Will to a Distinctive Life Style:
In Search of the Finnish New Middle Class 102
Conclusion 130
Notes 134
Bibliography 144
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
Figure 1.1 The space of arts and social sciences: Analysis of
correspondences – properties (in Pierre Bourdieu’s Homo
Academicus) 33
Figure 1.2 The space of arts and social sciences: Analysis of
correspondences – individuals (in Pierre Bourdieu’s Homo
Academicus) 34
Figure 1.3 The space of arts and social sciences: Analysis of
correspondences – Pierre Bourdieu’s properties 35
Figure 3.1 The ‘hit parades of intellectuals’ in France and
Finland in 1989 75
Figure 3.2 Intellectual types 83
Figure 3.3 Dimensions of the definition of intellectual 86
Tables
Table 3.1 Intellectuals: Criteria and categories 80
Acknowledgements
Hardly anyone has written his or her book completely on their own,
at least not in the academic field. In my case, there are so many to
be thanked. But here I should be brief, as this is not the right place
to present my life as homo academicus in full.
My first thanks go to Professor, now Professor Emeritus, Olavi
Riihinen, who was head of the Social Policy Department, University
of Helsinki, when I was recruited to the academic staff of the De-
partment in the 1980s. I am very grateful for his unconditional
intellectual support and trust along the way. Secondly, I would like
to thank Professor J. P. Roos, Professor Riihinen’s successor as head
of the Department. He was the one who introduced me not only to
Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology but – as the Finnish pioneer of life his-
tory studies – also to (auto)biographical research. Moreover, Profes-
sor Roos, my close colleague for many years, is co-author of two
texts (Chapters 3 and 5) in this book. Thirdly, I would like to thank
Professor Risto Eräsaari, the new head of our Department, for his
encouragement. He was my first mentor as a young student of social
sciences; and it was he who first guided me into research life by
inviting me to join his research project of those times. Looking back,
it is clear that this was just the beginning of a long and fruitful
co-operation.
Special thanks are due to my internal examiners, Professor
Risto Alapuro and Docent Jukka Gronow, both from the Department
of Sociology, University of Helsinki, who read the entire manuscript
and provided valuable comments.
10 • Not Class But Struggle
As the common nominator of this thesis is Pierre Bourdieu’s
sociology, I especially wish to extend my thanks to M. Pierre Bour-
dieu for his generous response during my research. It was a great
surprise and pleasure for me that he was kind enough to take time
from his busy schedule to read and discuss some of my texts. In
particular, I will never forget our conversation in Paris, one Thurs-
day afternoon in October 1995, at the Café Français on the Place de
la Bastille. It lasted for about two hours, and I was partly responsible
for him being late for his next appointment.
Those who have read and commented on various drafts of the
chapters published in this book are gratefully acknowledged at the
end of each chapter.
Many thanks are due also to Dr. Mark Shackleton, from the
Department of English Philology, University of Helsinki, for correct-
ing my English. Mr. Tuomas Seppä gave invaluable help in prepar-
ing my manuscript for publication.
In addition, my heartfelt thanks go to many others, unnamed but
not forgotten, who helped and supported me in my work.
Last but not least, my deepest thanks go to my family, Maija-
Riitta and Topias as well as Otto. It goes without saying that their
understanding has been vital for me throughout this project.
As always, the author is alone responsible for any errors or
omissions.
* * *
The chapters have appeared in the following previous versions:
1. ‘Pierre Bourdieu as Homo Academicus: Studying Bourdieu’s
Thought from a Bourdieusian Perspective’. First version ‘Pierre
Bourdieu’s Fieldwork in Philosophy’ presented as a paper in the
section: Social Theory at the Annual Conference of the Wester-
marck Society – the Finnish Sociological Association, Tampere,
22–23 March, 1996; second version ‘Pierre Bourdieu as Homo Aca-
Acknowledgements • 11
demicus: Studying Bourdieu’s Thought from a Bourdieusian Per-
spective’ presented at the ISA XIV World Congress of Sociology,
Montréal, Québec, Canada, July 26 – August 1, 1998, in Research
Committee 16: Sociological Theory; Abstract published in Socio-
logical Abstracts, Suppl. 182, July 1998.
2. ‘Taste as a Struggle: Bourdieu and Nietzsche’. First version
published in Finnish as ‘Maku taisteluna: Bourdieu ja Nietzsche’ in
Sosiologia (Journal of the Westermarck Society) 32 (1995): 1, pp.
12–25. This chapter is based on the revised version of my article
published in French under the title ‘Le goût vu comme une lutte:
Bourdieu et Nietzsche’ in Sociétés, n° 53 (1996), pp. 283–297.
3. (with J. P. Roos) ‘The Field of Intellectuals: The Case of
Finland’. The first version published in Niilo Kauppi & Pekka Sul-
kunen (eds.), Vanguards of Modernity: Society, Intellectuals, and
the University. Jyväskylän yliopisto, Nykykulttuurin tutkimus-
yksikön julkaisuja 32, 1992, pp. 107–125. The second version in
International Journal of Contemporary Sociology 30 (1993): 2, pp.
154–172. The Swedish translation ‘De intellektuellas fält: Fallet
Finland’ published in Donald Broady (ed.), Kulturens fält: En anto-
logi. Stockholm: Daidalos 1998, pp. 357–380.
4. ‘Truth and Fiction: On the Biographical Fallacy – A Critical
Note’. First version presented as a paper ‘On the Biographical Fallacy’
at the ISA XII World Congress of Sociology, Madrid, July 9–13,
1990, in Research Committee 38: Biography and Society. Abstract
published in Sociological Abstracts, Suppl. 160, July 1990. The paper
has been published in German under the title ‘Der biographische
Fehlschluß – Einige kritische Bemerkungen’ in BIOS: Zeitschrift für
Biographieforschung und Oral History 4 (1991): 2, pp. 243–246.
This chapter is based on an enlarged and revised version of an article
published originally in Finnish as ‘Elämäkerta: Tarua ja totta’ in
Elina Haavio-Mannila et al. (eds.), ”Kerro vain totuus”: Juhlakirja
J. P. Roosille 30.4.1995. [Festschrift to J. P. Roos on April 30,
1995.] Helsinki: Gaudeamus 1995, pp. 142–156.