Pierre Bourdieu: The rules of art

25 important questions on Pierre Bourdieu: The rules of art

What does existentialism (Sartre) mean?

The individual expression is the main source of behaviour (intentions)

What does structuralism (Levi-Strauss) mean?

Underlying social structures determine social behaviour.

What are binary oppositions?

Things like man/woman, heaven/earth, rational/emotional.
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What is a dichotomous chain?

A chain of binary oppositions

How does this relate to genetic strucuralism?

There is a balance/struggle between the binary oppositions

How does Bourdieu do this in his sociology?

He tries to discover the unconscious of social behaviour.

What is the central theme in Bourdieu's work?

The role of culture in social reproduction.

How does this work out in his methodology?

It/He develops the same frame for all fields in society: economy, politics, media, religion, art = structural homology of fields.

What is a universal principle for Kant?

Human 'good' taste.

What does Bourdieu say about art and taste?

They are socially constructed.

What is a habitus?

The internalization of exteriority and the exteriorization of the interiority = double movement.

A habitus is a social construct...

...which structures the social.

Which forms of socialization are important?

Primary, secondary and tertiary socialization (basically all of them idk)

What does a field mean?

Objective whole of social relationships between the boarders of collective recognized subject (eg art, contemporary dance) with its own laws and logic.

The structure of a field in constituted by...

...the struggle for power.

Between what is this struggle for power?

Between the orthodoxy and the heterodoxy.

How do they collect this power?

Through economic, cultural, symbolic and social capital.

What does a field structure look like?

It is defined by economic and cultural capital, on which one can score high or low.

Can one just enter a field?

No, one needs primary and secondary socialization as an 'entry ticket' (cultural capital).

How can one act stragetically?

By accumulating cultural and symbolic capital.

What is sens pratique?

Unconsciously strategy making for that field.

What else does the actor have to do to enter a field?

One has to transform symbolic capital into economic capital.

There is a ... and ... term circuit.

Long and short term

What is the belief in an artist?

A collective construct of critics, school teachers, colleague artists, directors of art centers...

What problems are there with Bourdieu's sociology?

- Context & competition <-> content & internal dynamic decision makers/organizations
- Reflexivity of actors in a field (versus Bourdieu saying that this does not happen?)
- Field and field borders globalization
- Autonomy of a field <-> government
- Artistic taste
- Hierarchical and economic model:
        Time is a movement in space: powerpositions (cartography) <->              contemporary dance and ballet <-> orthodox versus heterodox
- One organization can use orthodox and heterodox strategies to control a power position in field
- Morphology/globalization: many different hierarchies (not possible in fields?)

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