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Classification Struggles

General Sociology, Volume 1 (1981-1982)
By Pierre Bourdieu
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Brief Description
This is the first of five volumes based on the lectures given by Pierre Bourdieu at the Collège de France in the early 1980s under the title General Sociology. In these lectures, Bourdieu sets out to define and defend sociology as an intellectual discipline, and in... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

This is the first of five volumes based on the lectures given by Pierre Bourdieu at the Collège de France in the early 1980s under the title General Sociology. In these lectures, Bourdieu sets out to define and defend sociology as an intellectual discipline, and in doing so he introduces and clarifies all the key concepts which have come to define his distinctive intellectual approach.

In this first volume, Bourdieu focuses on the fundamental social processes of naming and classifying the world, the ways that social agents use words to construct social objects and the struggles that arise from this. The sociologist encounters a world that is already named, already classified, where objects and social realities are marked by signs that have already been assigned to them. In order to avoid the naïveté and confusion that stem from taking for granted a world that has been socially constituted, sociologists must examine the part played by words in the construction of social things – or, to put it differently, the contribution that classification struggles, a dimension of all class struggles, play in the constitution of classes, including classes of age, gender, race and social class.

An ideal introduction to some of Bourdieu's most important concepts and ideas, Classification Struggles will be of great interest to the many students and scholars who study and use Bourdieu's work across the social sciences and humanities, and to general readers who want to know more about the work of one of the most important sociologists and social thinkers of the twentieth century.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781509513284

Publisher: Polity Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 04 September 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Polity Press

Contributors:

  • Translated by Peter Collier

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Weight: 300g

Pages: 192

Collections

Education & Reference Non-Fiction Pierre Bourdieu

About the Author

Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002) was Professor of Sociology at the Collège de France and Director of Studies at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales.

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