Culture and Power

Pierre Bourdieu is a prominent social theorist and researcher in contemporary sociology. In this critical examination of his oeuvre David Swartz focuses on a central theme in Bourdieu's work - the complex relationship between culture and power, and explains that sociology for Bourdieu is a mode of political intervention. Swartz clarifies Bourdieu's difficult concepts, noting wh...

Pierre Bourdieu is a prominent social theorist and researcher in contemporary sociology. In this critical examination of his oeuvre David Swartz focuses on a central theme in Bourdieu's work - the complex relationship between culture and power, and explains that sociology for Bourdieu is a mode of political intervention. Swartz clarifies Bourdieu's difficult concepts, noting where they have been misinterpreted by critics, and where they have fallen short in resolving important analytical issues. The book also shows how Bourdieu has synthesized his theory of practices and symbolic power from Durkheim, Marx, and Weber, and how his work was influenced by Sartre, Levi-Strauss, and Althusser.

戴维·斯沃茨(David Swartz，1945-)，1984年毕业于波士顿大学，获博士学位。曾在巴黎大学、卫斯理大学(Wesleyan University)以及耶鲁大学教授和研究社会学和社会理论。现为波士顿大学社会学系教授。近来的研究兴趣集中在知识分子研究、政治学研究、精英和社会分层研究等方面。