Sociologizing Hau: Translation of Maussian Concepts into Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice

Authors : Şeyda Sevde Tunçbilek

Pages : 239-256

Doi:10.26650/SJ.2024.44.1.0009

View : 21 | Download : 12

Publication Date : 2024-08-26

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :In 1945, Lévi-Strauss declared that the coexistence and transitivity of sociology and anthropology, which can be seen its most concrete expression in the collaboration between Durkheim and Mauss, was one of the distinctive features of French social sciences. Today, the concurrent use of concepts and methods from both disciplines is often attributed to Bourdieu, who was influenced by structuralism early in his career and engaged in ethnographic research in Algeria. Yet to limit Bourdieu’s anthropological reference to the initial stages of his career or to reduce it to his relationship with Lévi-Strauss, is to run the risk of overlooking another implicit influence: It is through Mauss that Bourdieu finds the beginnings he needs when departing from a discredited structuralism after his “last happy structuralist work” Kabyle, or when he develops his own practical theory to revive sociology “which is reminded of its dominated position” and fortify its positions against anthropology, which dominated French social sciences in the 1960s. Contrary to his relationship with Lévi-Strauss, Bourdieu never ceases to refer to Maussian themes and concepts throughout his career. This article examines Bourdieu’s relationship with the discipline of anthropology and elucidates how Maussian concepts are translated by him into a theory of practice.
Keywords : Sosyoloji, Antropoloji, Pratik Teorisi, Marcel Mauss, Pierre Bourdieu, Claude Lévi Strauss