Bourdieuian Thought

Bourdieuian thought is a systematic and audacious approach in the sociology of education that has effected a set of suppositions that have influenced greatly the fields of education and curriculum studies. The French sociologist of education Pierre Bourdieu (19302002) developed his theories from an array of resources drawn from statistical analyses, structuralism, and the social theories of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Émile Durkheim, setting forth a sustained and critical analysis of the role of schooling in reproducing class structures of domination and subordination. Through his analysis, Bourdieu contended that the educational system is extensively involved in the reproduction of social structure, and it ensures the perpetuation of privilege by the mere operation of its internal logic. The way social and cultural reproduction is effected ...