Pierre Bourdieu and Cultural Theory

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

`This book acknowledges the relative lack of interest in, or the fairly selective reception of, the work of Bourdieu in the Anglo-American world, especially with regard to his sociology of culture. The book is therefore an attempt to introduce Bourdieu's analysis of cultural phenomena (in particular of literature and painting), as well as an invitation to remedy the virtual absence of any critical debate regarding some of his more antagonistic claims. The author portrays Bourdieu's theory as comprehensive and sophisticated, less idealistic in its reserved attitude towards French post structuralism than it is truly synthetic in its formulation of classical social theory in the wake of late capitalism. The monograph's inclusion in the series Theory, Culture & Society reflects this concern with the resurgence of interest in cultural theory within the contemporary domains of social science and of the humanities in general' - Pragmatics