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Dlstlnctl0n A Social Critique of t&e Ju agement of Taste Pierre Bouraieu
Translated by Richard Nice
Harvard ...
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Dlstlnctl0n A Social Critique of t&e Ju agement of Taste Pierre Bouraieu
Translated by Richard Nice
Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Contents
XI
.
Preface to the English-Language Edition Introduction
Copyright @ 1984 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. All rights reserved Primed in the United Stato of America
Originally published in 1979 by Les Editions de Minuit, Paris, as La Distinction: C,ili'lue Jociaie du jugtmml by Pierre Bourdieu.
Par! I
I
A Social Critique of the judgement of Taste
1
The Aristocracy of Culture
11
The Titles of Cultural Nobility Cultural Pedigree 63 Part II
The Economy of Pradices
2
The preparation of this volume was assisted by grams from the Translations Program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. an indcpC'ndcm (rocral agency, and from the Cultural Exchange Service of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The assistancc of the Maison de Sciences de I'Homme is also appreciated.
18
97
The Social Space and Its Transformations
Class Condition and Social Conditioning A Three-Dimensional Space 114 Reconversion S tr ategies 125 3
9
99
101
The Habitus and the Space of Life-Styles
169
The Homology between the Spaces 175 The Universes of StyliStic Possibles 208 4 Library of Congress Cataloging in Puhlication Dat2 Bourdicu, Picrre. Distinction: a soci.al critique of the judgement of taste. Translation of: La distinction: critique sociaJc du jugement. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Fr2nce-CiviJization-19452. Aesthetics. French. 3. Social c1asse5---:-Francc. I. Tide. 84-491 306'.0944 DCH.7.B6\13 1984 .
ISBN 0-674-21277-0 (paper)
Part III
The Dynamics of the Fields
226 The Correspondence between Goods Produnion and Taste Production 230 Symbolic Struggles 244
Class Tas!es and Life-Styles
5
The Sense o f Distinction
257
260
The Modes of Appropriation of the Work of Art The Variants of the Dominant Taste 283 The Mark of Time 295 Temporal and Sp iri rual Powers 315
267
6
Cultural Goodwill
Appen dices 503 1. Some Reflections on the Method 503 Complementary Sources 519 2. Srlrisrical Data 525 3. Associarions: A Parlour Game 546 4.
318
Knowledge and Recognition 319 Education and the AutOdidact 328 Slope and Thrust 331 The Variants of Petit-Bourgeois Taste 339 The Declining Petite Bourgeoisie 346 The Execucanr Petite Bourgeoisie 351 The New Petite Boutgeoisie 35 4 From Duty to the Fun Ethic 365 7
8
561 Credits 605 Index 607
Notes
The Choice of the Necessary
372 The Taste for Necessity and the Ptinciple of Conformity 374 The Effects of Domination 386 Culture and Politics
397 Selective Democracy 399 Status and Competence 405 The Right to Speak 411 Personal Opinion 414 The Modes of Production of Opinion 417 Dispossession and Misappropriation 426 Moral Order and Political Otder 432 Class Habitus and Political Opinions 437 Supply and Demand 440 The Political Space 451 The Specific Effect of Trajectory 453 Political Language 459
Conclusion: Classes and Classifications 466 Embodied Social Structures 467 Knowledge without Concepts 470 Advantageous Attributions 475 The Classification Struggle 479 The Reality of Representation and the Representation of Reality 482
Tables
1 Class preferences for singers and music 15 2 Aesthetic disposition, by educational capital 36 3 Aesthetic disposition, by class and educarion 37 4
) 6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13
Postscript: Towards a 'Vulgar' Critique of 'Pure' Critiques 485 Disgust at the 'Facile' 486 The ITasre of Reflection' and the 'Taste of Sense' 488 A Denied Social Relationship 491 Paretga and Paralipomena 494 The Pleasute of the Text 498
14 15 16
17
Knowledge
of composers and musical works,
by
education and class of
origin 64 Furniture purchases in the dominant class, by education and social origin 78 Some indicators of economic capital in different [ranions of the dominant class, 1966 117 Some indicators of cultural practice in different franions of the domi nant class, 1966 118 Types of hooks preferred by different (ranions of the dominant class, 1966 119 origin of members of the dominant class, 1970 121
Social
by
class franion,
Rare of employment of women aged 25-34, by education, 1962 and 1968 134 Changes i n morphology and asset structure of the class fractions, 1954�1 975 136 Changes in morphology and asset structure of the class franions, 1954�196R 13B Morphological chaoges wirhin the dominant class, 1954�1975 140 Morphological changes within the middle class, 1954�1975 140 Changes in class morphology and use of educational system, 1954 �1968 158 A nnu al t:; household expenditures on food: skilled manual workers, aremen and clerical workers, 1972 181 Yearly spending hy teachers, professionals and industrial and commercial employers, 1972 184
18 19
20
21
22
23 24
25 26 27
28
29 30 31
Annual household expenditures on food: fractions of the dominant class, 1972 188 Variations in enterraining, by class fraction, 1978 198
Variations in value placed by Frenchwomen on body, beauty and beauty care, 1976 203 Class variations in sports acrivities and opinions on sporr, 1975
Class·fracrion variarions in moral attirudes 312
Opinions on literary prizes, by class fraction, 1969
3 4
5
389
404
The imposition effect: responses to question on the business world and, politics, by class fraction, 1971 429 The imposition effecc responses to question on the new socialism, by sex, class fraction and party, 1971 430
1959-1972
436
Newspaper reading by men, by age, 1975 445
445
Newspaper reading by men and women, by class fraction, 1975 Percentage of each class fcaccion reading each daily and weekly paper 448
Figures 2
15
'Don'r know' responses to questions on teaching, by educarional level.
1970
Distribution of preferences for three musical works
446
17
The aesthetic disposition in the petite bourgeoisie 59
The relationship between inherited cultural capital and educational capital 81 Specific competence and talk about art 90
The space of social positions 128 6 The space of life-styles 129 7 Displacemenr of schooling rates of 16- to 18-year-olds, 1954-1975
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14
'Don't know' responses to political guestions, by sex, 1971 403
Newspaper reading by men, by educational level, 1975
1
216
Awareness of social factors in educational and social success, by class fraction, 1971 388
33 36
.
Knowledge and preferences of established and new petite bourgeoisie, in Paris and in the provinces 364
Views on political order and moral order, by class fraction,
35
.
Chances of entering the dominant class, and fertility rares, by class fraction, 1970-71 332
32 34
.
320
Views on ways of reducing ineguality, by class fraction, 1970
. . existence, habitus and life-style 171 of ons co nditI space 186 od fo 8 The es 248 om h I ea d 9 l 1O taste: the space 0f properties 262 nant domi the f 0 IantS . . Var 1 1 iduals 262 mdiv of space the taSte: dominant 0f the . tS rian . . , !2 Va am of 1st and 3rd dIagr plane tfied Slmpl dominant taste: the f 0 tS an . 13 Van 266 Ia rt ine of axes
159
16
17
271 Films seen: 1 . ois taste: the space of propertIes 340 urge t-bo peti . of tS n Varia . . lduals 340 of mdlv the space : rgeois taste -bou petit of nrs ta Var rgeois taste: simplified plane diagram of 1st and 3rd -bou petit of nts Vana axes of inef(ia 343 .
.
.
II 361 18 Films seen: and political preference 423 ss ne ive iss rm Pe 19 n policy and political preference eig for on ns inio Op 20 45 2 21 The political space
42 7
preface to t&e Eng[is& Language Eaition
I have every reason to fear that this book will strike tbe reader as 'very French'-which I know is not always a compliment.
French it is, of course, by virtue of its empirical object, and it can be read as a sort of ethnography of France, which, though I believe it shows no ethnocentric indulgence, should help to renew the rather stereotyped
image of French society that is presented by the American tradition. But I believe it is possible to enter into the singularity of an object without
renouncing the ambition of drawing out universal propositions. It is, no doubt, only by using the comparative method, which treats its object as a 'particular case of the possible', that one can hope to avoid unjustifiably universalizing the particular case. With the aid of Norbert Elias's analy ses, I do indeed emphasize the particularity of the French tradition,
namely, the persistence, through different epochs and political regimes, of the aristocratic model of 'court society', personified by a Parisian haute bourgeoisie which, combining all forms of prestige and all the titles of eco nomic and cultural nobility, has no counterpart elsewhere, at least for the arrogance of its cultural judgements.' It would, however, be a mistake to regard all that is said here about the social uses of art and culture as a col1�ction of Parisian curiosities and frivolities-and not only because, as Ervl,n?" Gottman once pointed out to me, the Parisian version of the art of hVlng has never ceased to exert a sort of fascination in the 'Anglo Saxon' world, even beyond the circle of snobs and socialites, thereby at talOlfig a kind of un iversality. �e model of the relationships between the universe of economic and SOCIal conditi ons and the universe of life�styles which is put forward here,
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based on an endeavour to rethink Max Weber's opposition between and Stand, seems to me to be valid beyond the particular French case antl, no doubt, for every stratified society, even if the system of distinctive tures which express or reveal economic and social differences variable in scale and structure) varies considerably ftom one period, one society, to another. 2 For example, the slightest familiarity with structural mode of thought tells one that the use of French words, pCClp!!r names, preferably noble, or common nouns---Institut de Beaute, Con: seur, Haute couture, etc-performs the same function for shops on Avenue or Madison Avenue as English words like hairdresser, s : , or interior designer on shop fronts in the rue du Faubourg S , ore.' But, more btoadly, the sense of distance, even strangeness, WrllC)1' scientific objectification itSelf produces and which is intensified differences in historical traditions, giving different contentS to realizations of the same structures, must not prevent the reader from fleeting ooto his own society, onto his own position within it, in 10rt.' onto himself, the analyses he is offered. That is why, though I am aware of the dangers of a facile search for . partial equivalences which cannot stand in for a methodical between systems, I shall take the risk of suggesting, within the my knowledge of American society and culture, some guidelines for reading that seeks to identify, behind the specific institution of a paJrti(:u,· lar society, the structural invariant and, by the same token, the equivalent, institution in another social universe. At the level of the 'international" pole of the dominant class the problem scarcely arises, since the cultural " ptoducts are ( relatively) international. One could replace Les Motkrnes by Partisan Review,' France-Musique by educational television' ( Channel 13, WQXR, WGBH etc) and perhaps ultra-leftism by sixties, 'camp',' while the New York Review of Books would ( alas) represent an: unlikely combination of the weekly Nouvel Observateur, the review Cri- ' tique and, especially in its successive enthusiasms. the journal Tel Que!. As: regards bourgeois taste, the American professionals, executives and man-: agers might ask of the film, book, art and music critics of the New York " Times or magazines like Time and Newsweek the same balanced, subtly di versified judgements which their French opposite numbers expect from Le Montie or Le Figaro or weeklies like L'Express or Le Point. The titles and authors favoured by the best-seller readership will vary from country to country, but in each case there will be a preponderance of the life stories and memoirs of exemplary heroes of bourgeois success or 'non-fic tion novels'. The undemanding entertainment which Parisians expect from boulevard theatre, New Yorkers will seek in Broadway musicals. But I believe I have said enough to encourage my readers to join in the game, at least so as to correct my mistakes and perhaps to pursue the search for equivalents, which would have ro be sought in song and cin ema (Is Brigitte Bardot like Marilyn Monroe' Is Jean Gabin the French
�:�:����
Tracy')-and also in Wayne, or Humphrey Bogart or Spencer ohn . . on J rl'or decoration ' sport and cooking. For It IS certam that Inte d ress" of the Channel or the Atlantic some things are compatl.'ble, e d Sl eaeh ' conSt ltut e ' r es 0f a c1 ass or c1 ass ffaction , and the prclerenc not" are . ers . o th ' wh'ICh a11 the empmca1 ystems. To supporr this hypotheSlS, s nt ere COh Allan Poe, wh0 spe11 s out the l'10k Edgar invoke can I m r fi n ' co analyses examp1 e, and lor c , decoratIOn, , In . . most everyday chOIces the en we . bet arts', seeing in the ordinary arrangement of the 'fine the s . chOlce iO and 0f a way 0f l'lIe r IOn the expresS his country of parrments h alt we "We speak of the keeping of a room as we would of the keeping thoug r . re for both the picture and the room are amenable to those i a f s of art; and very nearly tU cr o d eP pr incipl eS which regulate all varietie . . un Vla 1ng . ' 0f a paInting, laws by which we deCide on the hIgher ments the same . tment 0f a chamb er.,r, adJus the on ion decis r o f ce £Ii su be undersrood if Io ltS I'Co rm, toO, this book is 'very French'. This will . sSIOn character of the expre , mode I as try ro show the reader accepts that, . f a cultural production always depends on the laws of the market In
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d ahich it is offered. Although the book transgresses one af the fun ental taboos of the intellectual world, in relating intellectual products doubt, and producers to their social conditions of existence-and also, no because it does so-it cannot entirely Ignore or defy the laws of academIC or intellectual propriety which condemn as barbarous any attempt to treat culture, that present incarnation of the sacred, as an object of SCl '
:
ence. That is one of the reasons---along with the costS of book produc tion�why I have only very partially reproduced the survey material and the statistical data used, and have not always glven the expOSItIOn of the method as much prominence as the rhetoric of scientificity would de mand. (As in the French edition, some passages of the text, contaInIng detailed statistical material, illustrative examples or discussion of ancillary
issues, are printed in small type so that the reader who seeks an o� ervi�w of the main argument may pass over them on a first reading.) LikeWISe, the style of the b ook , whose long, complex sentences may offend-wn struc rcd as they are with a view to reconstituting the complexity of the social world in a language capable of holding together the most diverse
things while setting them in rigorous perspective-stems partly from the endeavour to mobilize all the resources of t he traditional modes of ex pression, literary, philosophical or scientific, so as ro say things that were de facto or de jure excluded from them, and ro prevent the reading from shpping back into the simplicities of the smart essay or the political po
lemic .K
Finally, I realize how much the specificity of the French intellectual field may have contributed to the conception of this book, in particular to Us perhaps immoderate ambition of giving a scientific answer to the old questions of Kant's critique of judgement, by seeking in the struc ture of the social classes the basis of the systems of classification which
struCture perception of the social world and designate the objects of aes. thetic enjoyment. But in an age when the effects of a premature of labour separate anthropology from sociology, and, within the the sociology of knowledge from the sociology of culture, not ro mc," tion the sociology of food or sport, it is perhaps the advantage of a we,rle still haunted by the ultimate and total questionings of the prophetic tn.,.' tellectual that one is led to refuse the self-induced myopia which makes impossible to observe and understand everything that human pra.ctic:es reveal only when they are seen in their mutual relationships, that is, as totaliry'" At all events, there is nothing more universal than the project of objec:-; tifying the mental structures associated with the particularity of a social, strucrure. Because it presupposes an epistemological break which is also social break, a sort of estrangement from the familiar, domestic, native world, the critique (in the Kantian sense) of culture invites each reae through the 'making strange' beloved of the Russian formalists, to produce on his or her own behalf the critical break of which it is product. For this reason it is perhaps the only rational basis for a trullv universal culture.
Distinction
Introauction You said it, my good knight� There ought to be laws to protect the body of acquired knowledge. Take one of our good pupils, for example: modest and diligent, from his earliest grammar classes he's kept a lit rIe norebook full of phrases. After hanging on the lips of his teachers for twenty years, he's managed to build up an intellectual stock in trade; doesn't it belong to him as if it were a house, or money? Paul Claude!,
Le soulier de satin, Day
III,
Scene ii
There is an economy of cultural goods, but ir has a specific logic. Sociol ogy endeavours to establish rhe condirions in which the consumers of cultural goods, and their taste for them, arC produced, and at the same time to describe the differenr ways of appropriating such of these objects as are regarded ar a parricular moment as works of arr, and the social conditions of rhe constitution of the mode of appropriarion thar is con sidered legitimate. But one cannot fully understand cultural practices unless 'culture', in the restricted, normative sense of ordinary usage, is brought back into 'culture' in the anthropological sense, and the elabo fated taste for the most refined objects is reconnected with the elemen tary taste for the flavours of food. Whereas the ideology of charisma regards taste in legitimate culture as a gift of nature, scientific observation shows that cultural needs are the product of upbringing and education: surveys establish that all cultural practices (museum visits, concert-going, reading etc.), and preferences in literarure, painting or music, are closely linked to educational level (measured by qualifications or lengrh of schooling) and secondarily to social origin. ' The relative weight of home background and of formal education (rhe effectiveness and duration of which are closely dependent on social origin) varies according to the extent to which the differen t cultural praCtices are recognized and taught by the educational system, and the influence of social origin is strongest--{)ther things being c'jual-in 'extra-curricular' and avant-garde culture. To the socially recog nized hierarchy of the arts, and within each of them, of genres, schools or periods, corresponds a social hierarchy of the consumers. This predisposes
2
Introduction / 3
/ Introduction
has s' The m�nner i� which culture tastes to function as markers of 'clas . ched atta nce orta Imp ner of using It: the been acquired lives on in the man er� e it is seen that it IS these Impond onc ood erst to manners can be und of es mod edrank d the different-an abIes of practice which distinguish s s clas the nd tlc, olas � of domestic or sc � culture acquisition, early or late, ). datm mon and ants ped erize (such as individuals which they charact l ona cati edu the by d ility-awarde CuI"ture aIs0 has its titles of nob . ty 10 . admIS ·· t e th sIon sured by seniorI system-and its pedigrees, mea nobility. is the stake 10 a sttuggIe wh·ICh h as The definition of cultural nobility day, nteenth century to the present one on unceasingly, from the seve ate tIm legI rhe of and ideas of culture etween groups differing in their th 10 g enn dlff re refo th � of art, a�d � relation to culture and to works ions are the product. osit dIsp e thes ch whi of tion conditions of acquisi of t defimtlon of the legitImate way Even in the classroom, the dominan y earl had e hav who se tho of art favours a ro riating culture and works ic last scho of de utsl ld, seho ? cultured hou a es to legitimate culture, in a em I,t deval�e: scholarly syst 1 on catl edu the hin wit � disciplines, since even favour 'scholastic or even pedantic 10 knowledge and interpretation as dehght. , , of direct experience and simple .10 typI. Cally pedan�1C language, ed, call es etim som is r The logic of wha 1on. rs an objective basis for thIS op�oslt the 'reading' of a work of art, offe that , tIon mc mu com of cess � e in a pro Consumption is, in this case, a stag , Ch presupposes practICal or exding, whI is an act of deciphering, deco capacity e. In a sense, one can say that the cod or er ciph a of iicit mastery IS, s, wledge (savOIr), or concept that o see (voir) is a function of the kno It as e. a name VISible thmgs, and �hlCh � the words, that are available to rest Inte and g A work of art has meanm were programmes for perception. IS, the ' the cultural competence, that es onlY for someone who possess l Imp us sC1o :m�n conscious or u�con code, into which it is encoded. The ation reCI app and schemes of perception tation of explicit or implicit for on diti con den hid sical culture 15 the which constitutes pictorial or mu , or, auth an or ol scho tic of a perIod, a recognizing the styles characteris ks wor of C logI rnal iliarity with the mte and, more generally, for the fam 'fic spec the s lack oses. A beholder who . that aesthetic enjoyment presupp and hnes, WIth urs colo s, thm rhy and nds sou of . os code feels lost in a chaos learnt to adopt the adequate dlsp � out rh me or reason. Not having perties , in Panofsky calls the 'sensIble pro t"Ion h . stopS short at what Erw tional emo the at or , ' .vlng a skin as downy or lace-work as delicate percel or a urs colo ' tere 'aus to perties' referring . resonances ar0u sed by these pro the f tum stra ary nm ve from the ' � , 'joyful' melody. He cannot mO the to e lenc e exp y � basis of our ordmar meaning we can grasp on the t IS wha of 109 n mea the i.e., the 'level of 'stratum of secondary meanings', e SIbl sen the ond bey go . concepts which slgm·fied' , unless he possesses the the of I t·es per pto · IStlC I· specificaIIy sty ptoperties and which identify the
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work. 3 Thus the encounter with a work of art is not 'love at first sight' as is generally supposed, and the act of empathy, Ein/iih/ung, which is the art-lover's pleasure, presupposes an act of cognition, a decoding opera tion, which iTplies the implementation of a cognitive acquirement, a cultural code. This typically intellectualist theory of artistic perception directly con tradicts the experience of the art-lovers closest to the legitimate defini tion; acquisition of legitimate culture by insensible familiarization within the family circle tends to favour an enchanted experience of culture which implies forgetting the acquisition.' The 'eye' is a product of his tory reproduced by education. This is true of the mode of artistic percep tion now accepted as legitimate, that is, the aesthetic disposition, the capacity to consider in and for themselves, as form rather than fuoction, not only the works designated for such apprehension, i.e., legitimate works of art, but everything in the world, including cultural objects which ar� not yet consecrated---such as, at one time" primitive arts, or, nowadays, popular photography or kitsch-and natural objects. The 'pure' gaze is a historical invention linked to the emergence of an auton omous field of artistic production, that is, a field capable of imposing its own norms on both the production and the consumption of its prod ucts6 An art which, like all Post-Impressionist painting, is the product of an artistic intention which asserts the primacy of the mode of representa tion over the object of representation demands categorically an attention to form which previous art only demanded conditionally. The pure intention of the artist is that of a producer who aims to be autonomous, that is, entirely the master of his produn, who tends to re ject not only the 'programmes' imposed a priori by scholars and scribes, but also-following the old hierarchy of doing and saying-the interpre tations superimposed a posteriori on his work. The production of an 'open work', intrinsically and deliberately polysemic, can thus be under stood as the final stage in the conquest of artistic autonomy by poets and, following in their footsteps, by painters, who had long been reliant on writers and their work of 'showing' and 'illustrating'. To assert the au tonomy of production is to give primacy to that of which the artist is master, i.e., form, manner, style, rather than the 'subject', the external ref· erent, which involves suba,rdinatiofl to fUflctions-even if only the most elementary one, that of representing, signifying, saying something. It also means a refusal to recognize any necessity other than that inscribed in the specific tradition of rhe artistic discipline in question: the shift from an art which imitates nature to an art which imitates an, deriving from its own history the exclusive source of its experiments and even of its breaks with tradition. An art which ever increasingly contains refer ence to its own history demands to be perceived historically; it asks to be referred not t� an external referent, the represented or designated 'reality', but to the UnIVerse of past and present works of art. Like artistic produc-
4
/ Introduction
rion, in that it is generated in a field, aesthetic perception is necessarily historical inasmuch as it is differential, relational, attentive to the devia* tions (ec�rts) which make styles. Like the so-called naive painter who, operating outside the field and its specific traditions, remains external to the history of the art, the 'naive' spectator cannot atratn a speClfic grasp of works of art which only have meaning--or value-in relation to the specific history of an artistic tradition. The aesthetic disposition de manded by the ptoducts of a highly autonomous field of production IS inseparable from a specific cultural competence. This historical culture functions as a principle of pertinence which enables one to identify, among the elements offered to the gaze, all the distinctive features and only these, by referring them, consciously or unconsciously, to the uni verse of possible alternatives. This mastery is, for the most part, acquired simply by contact with works of art-that is, through an implicit learn ing analogous to that which makes it possible to recogntze famlltar faces without explicit rules or criteria�and it generally remams at a practtCal level; it is what makes it possible to identify styles, i.e., modes of expres sion characteristic of a period, a civilization or a school, without having to distinguish clearly, or state explicitly, the features which constitute their originality. Everything seems to suggest that even among profes sional valuers, the criteria which define the stylistic properties of the 'typ ical works' on which all their judgements are based usually remain implicit. The pure gaze implies a break with the ordinary attitude towards the world, which, given the conditions in which it is performed, is also a so cial separation. Ortega y Gasser can be believed when he attributes to modern art a systematic refusal of all that is 'human" i.e., generic, com mon�as opposed to distinctive, or distinguished-namely, the passions, emotions and feelings which 'ordinary' people invest in their 'ordinary' lives. It is as if the 'popular aesthetic' (the quotation marks are there to indicate that this is an aesthetic 'in itself' not 'for itself ') were based on the affirmation of the continuity between art and life, which implies the subordination of form to function . This is seen clearly in the case of the novel and especially the theatre, where the working-class audience refuses any sort of formal experimentation and all the effects which, by intro ducing a distance from the accepted conventions (as regards scenery, plot etc.), tend to distance the spectator, preventing hIm from getttog In volved and fully identifying with the characters (I am thinking of Brechtian 'alienation' or the disruption of plot in the nouveau roman). In contrast to the detachment and disinterestedness which aesthetic theory regards as the only way of recognizing the work of art for what it is, i.e., autonomous, JelbJicindigJ the 'popular aesthetic' ignores or refuses the re fusal of 'facile' involvement and 'vulgar' enjoyment, a refusal which is the basis of the taste for formal experiment. And popular judgements of paintings or photographs spring from an 'aesthetic' (in fact it is an
Introduction / 5 ethos) which is the exact opposite of the Kantian aesthetic. Wherea s in order to grasp the specificity of the aesthetic judgement, Kant strov � to dlsttogUlsh that whIch pleases from that which gratifies and, more gen erally, to dIStingUIsh disinterestedness, the sale guarantor of the specifi cally aesthetic qualtty of contemplation, from the interest of reason whIch defines the Good, working-class people expect every image to ex pltCltly perform a function If only that of a sign, and their judgem ents , make reference, often explICItly, to the norms of morality or agreeable ness. Whether reJecttog or praising, their appreciation always has an eth Ical baSIS. Popular taste applies the schemes of the ethos, which pertain in the or . dtoary CIrCumstances of life, to legitimate works of art, and so performs a systematic reductIon of the Ihtngs of art to the things of life. The very senousness (or naIvety) whICh thIS taste tnvests in fictions and represen tan.on; �emonstrates a c otrario tha pure taste performs a suspens ? . ion of � . , n lve mvolve ment whICh IS one dImenslOn of a 'quasi-ludic' relation � . shIp ';lth the necessities of the world. Intellectuals could be said to be lIeve I� the representation-literature, theatre, painting-mo re than in the thtngs represented, whereas the people chiefly expect represe ntations and :he conventions which govern them to allow them to believe 'na Ively to the thtngs represented. The pure aesthetic is rooted in an ethic or rather, an ethos of elective distance from the necessities of the naturai and social world, which may take the form of moral agnosticism (visible when ethICal transgressIOn becomes an artistic parti pris) or of an aesthet ICIsm whIch presents the aesthetic disposition as a universally valid prin CIple and takes the bourgeOIs dental of the social world to its limit. The detachment of the pure gaze cannot be dissociated from a general . dispo SitIOn towards the world whICh IS the paradoxical product of condition Ing by neg�tIve economic necessities-a life of ease-that tends to induce . an actIve dIstance from. necessity. . Although art obviously offers the gre test scope to the aesthet ic dispo � SItiOn, there IS no area of practice 10 whICh the aim of purifyi ng, refining �nd s�blImatIng pnmary needs and Impulses cannot assert itself, no area to whICh the stylization of life, that is, the primacy of forms over func tIon, . of �anner over matter, does not produce the same effects. And nothtog IS more distinctive, more distinguished, than the capacity to confer aesthetic status on objects that are banal or even 'comm on' (be , cause the 'common peopI e mak e them their own, especially for aesthetic . purposes), or the ablltty to apply the principles of a 'pure' aesthetic to the most everyday chOIces of everyday life, e.g. , in cooking, clothin g or deco ration, completely reversing the popular disposition which annexes aes thetics to ethICS. In fact, through the economic and social ndicions which they pre :� suppose, the dIfferent ways of relating to realttles and fiction s, of believ Ing to fictions and the realities they simulate, with more or less distance _
6 / Introduction and detachment, are very closely linked to the different possible positions in social space and, consequently, bound up with the systems of disposi tions (habitus) characteristic of the different classes and class fractions. Taste classifies, and it classifies the classifier. Social subjects, classified by their classifications, distinguish themselves by the distinctions they make, between the beautiful and the ugly, the distinguished and the vulgar, in which their position in the objective classifications is expressed or be trayed. And statistical analysis does indeed show that oppositions similar in structure to those found in cultural practices also appear in eating habits. The antithesis between quantity and quality, substance and form, corresponds to the opposition-linked to different distances from neces sity-between the taste of necessity, which favours the most 'filling' and most economical foods, and the taste of liberty-{)r luxury-which shifts the emphasis to the manner (of presenting, serving, eating etc.) and tends to use stylized forms to deny function. The science of taste and of cultural consumption begins with a trans gression that is in no way aesthetic: it has to abolish the sacred frontier which makes legitimate culture a separate universe, in order to discover the intelligible relations which unite apparently incommensurable 'choices', such'as preferences in music and food, painting and sport, liter ature and hairstyle. This barbarous reintegration of aesthetic consump tion into the world of ordinary consumption abolishes the opposition, which has been the basis of high aesthetics since Kant, between the 'taste of sense' and the 'taste of reflection', arid between facile pleasure, pleasure reduced to a pleasure of the senses, and pure pleasure, pleasure purified of pleasure, which is predisposed ro become a symbol of moral excellence and a measure of the capacity for sublimation which defines the truly human man. The culture which results from this magical division is sa cred. Cultural consecration does indeed confer on the objects, persons and situations it touches, a sort of ontological promotion akin to a tran substantiation. Proof enough of this is found in the two following quo tations, which might almost have been written for the delight of the . sociologist: 'What struck me most is this: nothing could be obscene on the stage of our premier theatre, and the ballerinas of the Opera, even as naked dancers, sylphs, sprites or Bacchae, retain an inviolable purity." 'There are obscene postures: the stimulated intercourse which offends the eye. Clearly, it is impossible to approve, although the interpolation of such gestures in dance routines does give them a symbolic and aesthetic quality which is absent from the intimate scenes the cinema daily flaunts before its spectators' eyes . . . As for the nude scene, what can one say, except that it is brief and theatrically not very effective? I willllot say it is chaste or innocent, for nothing commercial can be so described. Let us say it is not shocking, and that the chief objection is that it serves as a box-office gimmick. . . . In Hair, the nakedness fails to be symbolic.'8
Introduction / 7 The �enial of lower, coarse, vulgar, venal, servile -in a word, natu ral---enjoyment, which constitutes the sacred sphere of culture implies an affirmation of the superiority of those who can be satisfied ;"'ith the subltmated, refined, disinterested, gratuitous, distin guished pleasures for ever closed to the profane. That is why art and cultur al consumption are predISP?sed, conSClously and deliberately or not, to fulfil a social function . of legitImating social differences.
I
Tbe Arjstocrac� of Cu[ture
Sociology is rarely more akin to social psychoanalysis than when it con fronts an object like taste, one of the most vital stakes in the struggles fought in the field of the dominant class and the field of cultural produc tion. This is not only because the judgement of taste is the supreme manifestation of the discernment which, by reconciling reason and sensi. bility, the pedant who understands without feeling and the mondain1 who enjoys without understanding, defines the accomplished individual. Nor is ir solely because every rule of propriery designates in advance the project of defining this indefinable essence as a clear manifestation of philistinism-whether it be the academic propriety which, from Alois Riegl and Heinrich WOltllin to Elie Faure and Henri Focillon, and from the most scholastic commentators on the classics to the avant-garde semiologist, insists on a formalist reading of the work of art; or the up perclass propriety which treats taste as one of the surest signs of true no bility and cannot conceive of referring taste to anything other than itself Here the sociologist finds himself in the area par excellence of the de nial of the social. It is not sufficient to overcome the initial self-evident appearances, in orher words, to relate raste, the uncreated source of all 'creation', to the social conditions of which it is the product, knowing full well that the very same people who strive to repress the clear relation between taste and education, between .culture as the state of that which is cultivated and culture as the process of cultivating, will be amazed that anyone should expend so much effort in scientifically proving that self evident fact. He must also question that relationship, which only appears to be self-explanatory, and unravel the paradox whereby the relationship
12
! A Social Critique oj the Judgement oj Taste
with educational capital is just as strong in areas which the educational system does not teach. And he must do. this without evet being able to appeal unconditionally to the POSItlVIStlC arbitration of what ate called facts. Hidden behind the statistical relationships between educational capital or social origin and this or that type of knowledge or way of ap plying it, there are relationships between groups maintaining different, and even antagonistic, relations to culture, dependtng on the C�ndlt1�nS in which they acquired their cultural capiral and rhe markets In which they can derive most profit from it. Bur we have nor yet fimshed with rhe self-evident. The question irself has to be questioned-In orher words, rhe relation to culture which it tacitly privileges-in order to esrabltsh whether a change in the content and form of rhe question would not be sufficient ro transform the relationships observed. There IS no way out of rhe game of culture; and one's only chance of objectifying the true na ture of the game is to objectify as fully as pOSSible the very operations which one is obliged to use in order to achieve that obJeCtIfication. De Ie jabula narratur. The reminder is meant for the reader as well.s the SOCI ologist. Paradoxically, the games of culture are protected against obJeCtI fication by all the partial objectifications whICh the actors Involved In the game perform on each other: scholarly critics can no'. grasp the objective reality of society aesthetes without abandomng their grasp of the true nature of their own activity; and the same IS true of their opponents. The same law of mutual lucidity and reflexive blindness governs the antago nism between 'intellectuals' and 'bourgeois' (or their spokesmen in the field of production ) . And even when bearing in mind the function which legitimate culture performs In class relations: ont IS stIll liable ro be led into accepting one or the other of the self-Interested representa tions of culture which 'intellectuals' and 'bourgeOIs' endlessly fling at each other. Up to now the sociology of the production and producers of culture has never escaped from the play of opposing Images , In which 'right-wing intellectuals' and 'left-wing intellectuals' (as the curren'. tax onomy puts it) subject their opponents and their strategies to an obJecti vist reduction which vested interests make that much eaSIer. The objectification is always bound to remain partial , and therefore false, so long as it fails to include the point of view from which It speaks and so fails to construct the game as a whole. Only at the level of the field of positions is it possible to grasp both the generic interests aSSOCIated with the fact of taking part in the game and the speCIfic Interests attached to the different positions, and, through this, the form and content of the self-positionings through which these interests are expressed. Despite the aura of objectivity they like to assume, neither the 'SOCIology of the in tellectuals', which is traditionally the business of 'right-wing intellec tuals', nor the critique of 'right-wing thought', the traditional speciality of 'left-wing intellectuals' , is anything more than a senes of symbolIC ag gressions which take on additional force when they dress themselves up in the impeccable neutrality of science. They taCItly agree In leaving hld-
The Aristocracy oj Culture !
13
den what is essential, namely the strucrure of objective positions which is the source, inter alia, of the view which the occupants of each position can have of the occupants of the other positions and which determines the specific form and force of each group's propensity to present and re ceive a group's partial truth as if it were a full account of the objective relations between the groups. The analyses presented in this book are based on a survey by question naire, carried out in 1963 and 1967-68, on a sample of 1,217 people. (Ap pendix 1 gives full information concerning the composition of the sample, the questionnaire, and the main procedures used to analyze it. Appendix 3 contains the statistical data drawn from the survey , as well as data from other sources.) The survey sought to determine how the culti vated disposition and cultural competence that are revealed in the nature of the cultural goods consumed, and in the way they are consumed, vary according to the category of agents and the area to which they applied, from· the most legitimate areas such as painting or music to the most 'personal' ones such as clothing, furniture or cookery, and, within the legitimate domains, according to the markets-'academic' and 'non academic'-in which they may be placed. Two basic facts were thus es tablished: on the one hand, the very close relationship linking cultural practices (or the corresponding opinions) to educational capital ( mea sured by qualifications) and, secondarily, to social origin ( measured by father's occupation ) ; and, on the other hand, the fact that, at equivalent levels of educational capital, the weight of social origin in the practice and preference-explaining system increases as one moves away from the most legitimate areas of culture. The more the competences measured are recognized by the school sys tem , and the more 'academic' the techniques used to measure them, the s�ronger is the relation between, performance and educational qualifica tion. The latter, as a more or less adequate indicator of the number of years of scholastic inculcation, guarantees cultural capital more or less completely, depending on whether it is inherited from the family or ac quired at school, and so i t is an unequally adequate indicator of this capi tal. The strongest correlation between performance and educational capital qua cultural capital recognized and guaranteed by the educational system ( which is very unequally responsible for its acquisition) is ob served when, with the question on the composers of a series of musical works, the survey takes the form of a very 'scholastic' exercise on knowl edge very close to that taught by the educational system and strongly rec ognized in the academic market.
The interviewer read out a list of sixteen musical works and asked the re sponden t to name the composer of each. Sixty-seven percent of those with only a CEP or a CAP could not identify more than two composers (out of
14 / A Social Critique ofthe Judgement of Taste sixteen works), compared to 45 percent of those with a BEPC, 19 percent of those with the baccalauriat, 17 percent of those who had gone to a tech� nical college (petite ieole) or started higher education and only 7 percent of those having a qualification equal or superior �o a licence.2 Whereas none of the manual or clerical workers questioned was capable of naming twelve or more of the composers of the sixteen works, 52 percent of the 'artistic pro ducers' and the teachers (and 78 percent of the teachers in higher educa tion) achieved this score. The rate of non-response to the question on favourite painters or pieces of music is also closely correlated with level of education, with a strong op position between the dominant class on the one hand and the working classes, craftsmen and small tradesmen on the other. (However, since in this case whether or not people answered the question doubtless depended as much on their dispositions as on their pure competence, the cultural pre tensions of the new petite bourgeoi si e---junior commercial executives, the medical and social services, secretaries, and the various culwral interme diaries (see Chapter 6)-found an outlet here.) Similarly, listening to the most 'highbrow' radio stations, France-Musique and France-Culture, and to musical or cultural broadcasts, owning a record-player, listening ro records (without specifying the type, which minimizes the differences), visiting art galleries, and knowledge of painting-features which are strongly correlated with one another--obey the same logic and, being strongly linked to educa tional capital, set the various classes and class fractions in a clear hierarchy (with a reverse distribution for listening to variety programmes). In the case of activities like the visual arts, or playing a musical instrument, which presupposes a cultural capital generally acquired outside the educational sys tem and (relativel y) independent of the level of academic certification, the correlation with social class, which is again strong, is established through social trajectory (which explains the special position of the new petite bour geoisie). The closer one moves rowards the most legitimate areas, such as music or painting, and, within these areas, which can be set in a hierarchy according to their modal degree of legitimacy, towards certain genres or certain works, the more the differences in educational capital are associated with major differences (produced in accordance with the same principles) be tween genres, such as opera and operetta, or quartets and symphonies, be tween periods, such as contemporary and classical, between composers and between works. Thus, among works of music, the Well-Tempered Clavier and the Concerto for the Left Hand (which, as will become apparent, are distin guished by the modes of acquisition and consumption which they presup pose), are opposed to the Strauss waltzes and the Sabre Dance, pieces which are devalued either by belonging to a lower genre ('light music') or by their popularization (since the dialectic of distinction and pretension desig nates as devalued 'middle-brow' art those legitimate works which become 'popularized'),3 just as, in the world of song, Georges Brassens and lio Ferre are opposed to Georges Guetary and Petula Clark, these differences corresponding in each case to differences in educational capital (see table 1). In fact, the weight of the secondary factors---composition of capital, vol-
The Aristocracy of Culture / 15 �
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18 / A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (RhapJody in Blue) characterizes, in addition to all the works and authors le, osy mentioned (plus the Twilight of the Gods), 'photogtaphy', 'c�mfortab � stones love for valId home' etc.; and the third (Blue Danube) IS equally and 'clean, tidy home' etc.
The Titles of Cultural Nobility ed by du A relationship as close as that between academic capital ( measur from remote as areas in es practic or dge ration of schooling) and knowle cin� the or jazz n mentio to not g, paintin or academ ic education as music educa of level and visits m museu n betwee ema-like the correlation of the tion-raises in the highest degree the question of the significance two the of y identit real the of n questio the relationship, in other words, ex has One nship. relatio very their in defined linked terms which are of ce existen the hing establis by g nothin ood underst plained nothing and varI ent' 'depend a and e variabl ndent' 'indepe an n a correlation betwee lar case, able. Until one has determined what is designated in the particu (for ship relation the in term each by ship, relation i.e., in each particular cal statISti , the ers) ompos of dge knowle and ion � example, level of educat . s remam cally, numen ined determ be can it ly precise er relationship, howev ding a pure datum, devoid of meaning. And the 'intuitive' half-understan they whIle cases, such m satisfied ly general are gists with which sociolo rela the of ity' 'intens the of ement l;11casur the g refinin concentrate on . fac or es vanabl the of cy constan the of illusion the with er tionship, togeth er they s whatev tors resulting from the nomina! identity of the indicator ' ( to �ule out tends them, ignat des which terms the of or � e) indicat may . g they meanin the to any questioning of the terms of the relationshIp as It. from receIve take on in that particular relationshIp and Indeed . Both terms of the relationship have to be quened m each case: the in places of dependent variable-occupation, sex, age, father's occupation, depen the and effectst differen residence etc., "which may express very ,con vary lves themse that tions dent variable, which may manifest disposi ndent indepe the by up divided siderably depending on the classes ces found variables. Thus, for an adequate interpretation of the differen to relation their regards as class between the classes or within the same one erc., tur lirer tre, e � t music, � �. � the various legitimate arts, painting, mate, to would have to analyse fully the social uses, legitimate or Illegiti lends it ered consid tions institu or which each of the arts, genres, works g more nothin 'class', one's affirms self. For example, nothing more clearly by VIr se, becau course of is This infallibly classifies, than tastes in music. . dISpo onding corresp the ng acquiri tue of the rarity of the conditions for t-gomg or sitions there is no more 'classifactory' practlce than concer equal, being things other which, ties playin a 'noble' instrumen t (activi to VISitS even or g m-gom museu , are less widespread than theatre-gomg culal 'music of ng flaunti the e becaus modern-art galleries) . But it is also '
�
The Aristocracy of Culture / 19 ture' i s not a cultural display like others: as regards its social definition, 'musical culture' is something other than a quantity of knowledge and experiences combined with the capacity to talk about them. Music is the most 'spiritual' of the arts of the spirit and a love of music is a guarantee of 'spirituality'. One only has to think of the extraordinary value nowa days conferred on the lex is of 'listening' by the secularized (e.g., psy choanalytical) versions of religious language. As the countless variations on the soul of music and the music of the soul bear witness, music is bound up with 'interiority' ( 'inner music') of the 'deepest' sort and all concerts are sacred. For a bourgeois world which conceives its relation to the populace in terms of the relationship of the soul to the body, 'insensi tivity to music' doubtless represents a particularly unavowable form of materia:list coarseness. But this is not all. Music is the 'pure' art par ex cellence. It says nothing and has nothing to say. Never really having an expressive function, it is opposed to drama, which even in its most re fined forms still bears a social message and can only be 'put over' on the basis of an immediate and profound affinity with the values and expecta tions of its audience. The theatre divides its public and divides itself. The Parisian opposition between right-bank and left-bank theatre, bourgeois theatre and avant-garde theatre, is inextricably aesthetic and political. Nothing comparable occurs in music (with some rare, recent excep tions ) . Music represents the most radical and most absolute form of the negation of the world, and especially the social world, which the bour geois ethos tends to demand of all forms of art. For an adequate interpretation of what would be implied in a table correlating occupation, age or sex with a preference for the Well-Tempered ClaVIer or the Concerto for the Left Hand, one has to break both with the blind use of indicators and with spurious, essentialist analyses which are merely the universalizing of a particular experience, in order to make completely explicit the multiple, contradictory meanings which these works take on at a given moment for the totality of social agents and in particular for the categories of individuals whom they distinguish or who differ with respect to them (in this particular case, the 'inheritors' and the 'newcomers') . One would have to take account, on the one hand, of the socially pertinent properties attached to each of them, that is, the so cial image of the works (,baroque'/,modern', harmony/dissonance, rigour/lyricism etc. ) , the composers and perhaps especially the corre sponding instruments ( the sharp, rough timbre of plucked strings/the warm, bourgeois timbre of hammered strings); and, on the other hand, the distributional properties acquired by these works in their relation ship (perceived with varying clarity depending on the case) with the dif ferent classes or class fractions ( ',a fait . . . ' ) and with the corresponding conditions of reception (belated knowledge through records/early knowledge through playing the piano, the bourgeois instrument par excellence) .
20 ! A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste The opposition found at the level of distributional properries is generally homologous co that found at the level of stylistic characteristics. This is be cause homology between the positions of the producers (or the works) in t�e fi �ld of production and the positions of the consumers in social space ( I . e., In the overall class structure or in the structure of the dominant class) seems to be the most freguent casco Roughly speaking, the amateur of Mal larrne is likely to be to the amateur of Zola as Mallarme was to Zola. Dif ferences between works are predisposed to express differences between authors, partly because, in both style and content, they bear the mark of their authors' socially constituted dispositions (that is, their social origins, retransl ated .a� a function of the positions in the field of production which . rhese dlsposItJons played a large part in determining) ; and partly because they remain marked by the social significance which they received from their opposition, and that of their authors, in the field of production (e.g., . left/nght, clear/obscure etc.) and which is perpetuated by the university tradmon.
I t is also clear what would be required for an adequate interpretation of the bourgeois predilection for the 'Impressionists', whose simulta neously lyrical and naturalistic adherence to natural or human nature contrasts both with realist or critical representation of the social world ( doubtless one dimension of the opposition between Renoir and Goya, not to mentIOn Courbet or Daumier) and with all forms of abstraction. Again, to understand the class distribution of the various sports, one would have to take account of the representation which, in terms of their specific schemes of perception and appreciation, the differen t classes have of the costs (economic, cultural and 'physica!') and benefits attached to the different sports---i-- mmediate or deferred 'physical' benefits ( health, beauty, strength, whether visible, through 'body-building' or invisible through 'keep-fit' exercises), economic and social benefits ( upward mo bility etc. ) , ImmedIate or deferred symbolic benefits linked to the distri butional or positional value of each of the sports considered (i.e., all that each of them receives from its greater or lesser rarity, and its more or less clear association with a class, with boxing, football, rugby or body building evoking the working classes, rennis and skiing the bourgeoisie and golf rhe upper bourgeoisie ), gains in disrinction accruing from rhe effects on the body itself (e.g., slimness, sun-tan, muscles obviously or dIscreetly VISIble etc.) or from the access to highly selective groups which some of these sports give (golf, polo etc ) . .
Thus the only way of completely escaping from the intuitionism which in evitably accompanies positivistic faith in the nominal identity of the indica tors would be to carry Out a-strictly interminable-analysis of the social value of each of the properties or practices considered-a Louis XV com mode or a Brahms symphony, reading Historia or Le Figaro, playing rugby
The Aristocracy of Culture ! 21 or the accordion and so on. The statistics of the class distribution of news paper reading would perhaps be interpreted less blindly if sociologiSts bore in mind Proust's analysis of 'that abominable, voluptuous act called "read ing rhe paper", whereby all rhe misfortunes and cataclysms suffered by rhe universe in the last twenty-four hours--battles which have cost the lives of fifty thousand men, murders, strikes, bankruptcies, fires, poisonings, sui cides, divorces, the cruel emotions of statesman and actor, transmuted into a morning feast for our personal entertainment, make an excellent and par ticularly bracing accompaniment to a few mouthfuls of cafi au lait. ,4 This description of the aesthete's variant invites an analysis of the class variations and the invariants of the mediated, relatively abstract experience of the so cial world supplied by newspaper reading, for example, as a function of variations in social and spatial distance (with, at one extreme, the local items in the regional..dailies-marriages, deaths, accidents-and, at the other (:xtreme, international news, or, on another scale, the royal engagements and weddings in the glossy magazines) or in political commitment (from the detachment depicted in Proust's text to the activist's outrage or enthusiasm ) . In fact, the absence of this kind of preliminary analysis of the social sig nificance of the indicators can make the most rigorous-seeming surveys quite unsuitable for a sociological reading. Because they forget that the ap parent constancy of the products conceals the diversity of the social uses . they are put to, many surveys on consumption impose on them taxonomies which have sprung straight from the statisticians' social unconscious, asso ciating things that ought to he separated (e.g., white heans and green beans) and separating things that could be associated (e.g., white beans and bananas-the latter are to fruit as the former are to vegetables). What is there to be said about the collection of products brought together by the apparently neuttal category 'cereals'--bread, rusks, rice, pasta, Aour-and especially the class variations in the consumption of these products, when one knows that 'rice' alone includes 'rice pudding' and riz au gras! or rice cooked in broth (which tend to be 'working-class' ) and 'curried rice' (more 'bourgeois' or, more precisely, 'intellectual' ), not to mention 'brown rice' ( which suggests a whole life-style) ? Though, of course, no 'natural' or man ufactured product is equally adaptable to all possible social uses, rhere are very few that are perfectly 'univocal' and it is rarely possible to deduce the social use from the thing itself. Except for products specially designed for a particular use (like 'slimming bread' ) or closely tied to a class, by tradition ( like tea-in France) or price ( like caviar ) , most products only derive their social value from the social use that is made of them. As a consequence, in these areas the only way to find the class variations is to introduce them from the start, by replacing words or things whose apparently univocal meaning creates no difficulty for the abstract classifications of the academic unconscious, with the social uses in which they become fully determined. Hence it is necessary to attend, for example, to ways of photographing and ways of c90king-in the casserole or the pressure-cooker, i.e., without counting time and money, or quickly and cheaply-or to rhe products of these operations-family snaps or phoros of folk dancing, boeu/ bourguignon or curried rice.
22 / A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste
The Aristocrary of Culture / 23
Appearances, need 1 repeat, al�ays support appearances; and sociological , science, which cannot find the dlfferences between the sO� lal . classes unless it introduces them from the start, is bound to appear preJudlCcd to those who dissolve the differences, in all good faith and with impeccable method, simply by su rrendering to positivistic laisser-faire.
But the substantialist mode of thinking is perhaps most unrestrained when it comes to the search for 'explanatory factors'. Slipping ftom the substanrive to the substance ( to paraphrase Wittgenstein), from the con stancy of the substantive to the constancy of the substance,. it treats the properties attached to agent�c�upa� io? , ag�, sex, q�ah cat1?ns-:--a.s forces independent of the relationshIp wlthm whIch they act . ThIS elimI nates the question of what IS determmant m the determmant vanable and what is determined in the determmed vanable, m other words, the question of what, among the properties chosen,. consciously or uncon sciously, through the indicators under conSIderation, constitutes the per tinent property that is really capable of determmmg the relationshIp wlthtn which it is determined. Purely statistical calculation of the vanatlons In the intensity of the relationship between a particular indicator and any given practice does not remove the need for the speCIfically SOCIologICal calculation of the effects whICh are expressed tn the statistical relationshIp and which statistical analysis, when oriented towards the search for Its own intelligibility, can help to discoveL One has to rak e .the relationship itself as the object of study and SCrutl �'ze ItS soclOlo?,cal slgntfic��ce (signification ) rather than ItS statIstICal slg n dicantness (srgnificattvtte ) , only in this way is it possible to replace the relationshIp between a sup posedly constant variable and different practICes by a senes of dIfferent effects-sociologically intelligible constant relationshIps whICh are SImul taneously revealed and concealed in the statiStical relationshIps between a given indicator and different practices. The truly sCIentific endeavour has to break with the spurious self-eVIdences of Immediate understandmg (to which the pseudo-refinements of statistical analysis-e.g., path analysls the phenomenal relatIOn bring unexpected reinforcement) . In place vanables such as level and vanable 'dependent that ship between this or common-sense n�tlons than more no are which of education or social origin, mental habits of the ftom stems power' 'explanatory and whose apparent 'an exact establish to aims it world, social the of knowledge common-sense effects the of principle rational the concepts',' relation of well-defined example, everything-for despite records relationship which the statistical the relationship between the titles of nobility (or marks of infamy) awarded by the educational system and the pracuces they Imply, or be tween the disposition required by works of legmmate art and the dISpo sition which, deliberately and consciously or not, IS taught m schools.
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Knowing the relationship which exists be tween cultural capital inherited from the family and academic capital, by
THE ENTITLEMENT EFFECT
virtue of the logic of the transmission of cultural capital and the func tioning of the educational system, one cannot impute the strong correla tion, observed between competence in music or painting (and the practice it presupposes and makes possible) and academic capital, solely to the operation of [he educational system (still less to the specifically artistic education it is supposed to give, which is clearly almost non-exis tent). Academic capital is in fact the guaranteed product of the com bined effects of cultural transmission by the family and cultural transmission by the school ( the efficiency of which depends on the amount of cultural capital directly inherited from the family). Through its value-inculcating and value-imposing operations, the school also helps ( to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the initial disposition, i.e., class of origin) to form a general, transposable disposition towards legiti mate culture, which is first acquired with respect to scholastically recog nized knowledge and practices but tends to be applied beyond the bounds of the curriculum, taking the form of a 'disinterested' propensity to accumulate experience and knowledge which may not be directly ptof itable in the academic market. The educational system defines non-curricular general culmce (ta culture 'fibre'), negatively at least, by delimiting, within the dominant culture, the area of what it puts into its syllabuses and controls by its examinations. It has been shown that (he most 'scholastic' cultural objects are those taught and requi red at the lowest levels of schooling (the extreme form of the 'scholastic' being the 'elementary'), and that the educational system sets an increasingly high value on 'general' culture and increasingly refuses 'scholas tic' measurements of culture (such as direct, closed guestions on authors, dates ana events) as one moves towards the highest levels of the system.
In fact, the generalizing tendency of the cultivated disposition is only a necessary, not a sufficient, condition for the enterprise of cultural appro priation, which is inscribed, as an objective demand, in membership of the bourgeoisie and in the qualifications giving access to its rights and duties. This is why we must first stop to consider what is perhaps the best-hidden effect of the educational system, [he one it produces by im posing 'titles',6 a particular case of the attribution by status, whether positive (ennobling) or negative (stigmatizing), which every group pro duces by assigning individuals to hierarchically ordered classes. Whereas the holders of educationally uncertified cultural capital can always be re quired to prove themselves, because they are only what they do, merely a by-product of their own cultural production, the holders of titles of cul tural nobility-like the titular members of an aristocracy, whose 'being', defined by their fidelity to a lineage, an estate, a race, a past, a fatherland or a tradition, is irreducible to any 'doing', to any know-how or func tion--{)nly have to be what they are, because all their practices derive their value from their authors, being the affirmation and perpetuation of
24 / A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste the essence by virtue of which they are performed. ' Defined by the titles which predispose and legitimate them in being what they are, which make what they do the manifestation of an essence earlier and greater than its manifestations, as in the Platonic dream of a division of func tions based on a hierarchy of beings, they are separated by a difference in kind from the commoners of culture, who are consigned to the doubly devalued status of autodidact and 'stand-in' .' Aristocracies are essentialist. Regarding existence as an emanation of essence, they set no intrinsic value on the deeds and misdeeds enrolled in the records and registries of bureaucratic memory. They prize them only insofar as they clearly manifest, in the nuances of their manner, that their one inspiration is the perpetuating and celebrating of the essence by vir tue of which they are accomplished. The same essentialism requires them to impose on themselves what their essence imposes on them-noblesse oblige-to ask of themselves what no one else could ask, to 'live up' to their own essence. This effect is one of the mechanisms which, in conditions of crisis, cause
the most privileged individuals, who remain most attached to the former state of affairs, to be the slowest to understand the need to change strategy and so to faU-victim to thei r own privilege (for example, ruined nobles who refuse to change their ways, or the heirs of great peasant families who remain celibate rather than marry benea�h them ). It could be shown, in the same way, that the ethic of noblesse oblige, still found in some fractions of the peasantry and traditional craftsmen, contributes significantly to the self exploitation characceristic of these classes.
This gives us an insight into the effect of academic markers and classi fications. However, for a full understanding we have to consider another property of all aristocracies. The essence in which they see themselves re fuses to be contained in any definition. Escaping petty rules and regula tions, it is, by nature, freedom. Thus, for the academic aristocracy it is one and the same thing to identify with an essence of the 'cultivated man' and to accept the demands implicitly inscribed in it, which increase with the prestige of the title. So there is nothing paradoxical in the fact that in its ends and means the educational system defines the enterprise of legitimate 'autodidacticism' which the acquisition of 'general culture' presupposes, an enterprise that is ever more strongly demanded as one rises in the educational hierarchy (between sections, disciplines, and specialities etc., or between levels). The essentially contradictory phrase 'legitimate autodidacticism' is in tended to indicate the difference in kind between the highly valued 'extra-curricular' culture of the holder of academic qualifications and the illegitimate extra-curricular culture of the autodidact. The reader of the popular-science monthly Science et Vie who talks about the genetic code
The Aristocracy of Culture / 25 or the incest taboo exposes himself to ridicule as soon as he ventures outside the circle of his peers, whereas Claude Levi-Strauss or Jacques Monod can only derive additional prestige from their excursions into the field of music or philosophy. Illegitimate extra-curricular culture, whether it be the knowledge accumulated by the self-taught or the 'expe rience' acquired in and through practice, outside the control of the insti· tution specifically mandated to inculcate it and officially sanction its acquisition, like the art of cooking or herbal medicine, craftsmen's skills or the stand-in's irreplaceable knowledge, is only valorized to the strict extent of its technical efficiency, without any social added-value, and is exposed to legal sanctions (like the illegal practice of medicine) when ever it emerges from the domestic universe to compete with authorized competences. Thus, it is written into the tacit definition of the academic qualifica tion formally guaranteeing a specific competence (like an engineering di ploma) that it really guarantees possession of a 'general culture' whose breadth is proportionate to the prestige of the qualification;" and, con versely, that no real guarantee may be sought of what i t guarantees for mally and really or, to put it another way, of the extent to which it guarantees what it guarantees. This effect of symbolic imposition is most intense in the case of the diplomas consecrating the cultural elite. The qualifications awarded by the French grandes ecoles guarantee, without any other guarantee, a competence extending far beyond what they are sup posed to guarantee. This is by virtue of a clause which, though tacit, is firstly binding on the qualification-holders themselves, who are called upon really to procure the attributes assigned to them by their status. \0 This process occurs at all stages of schooling, through the manipula tion of aspirations and demands-in other words, of self-image and self esteem-which the educational system carries out by channelling pupils towards prestigious or devalued positions implying or excluding legiti mate practice. The effect of 'allocation', i.e., assignment to a section, a discipline (philosophy or geography, mathematics or geology, to take the extremes) or an institution (a grande ecole that is more or less grande! or a faculty), mainly operates through the social image of the position in question and the prospects objectively inscribed in it, among the fore most of which are a certain type of cultural accumulation and a certain image of cultural accomplishment. " The official differences produced by academic classifications tend to produce (or reinforce) real differences by inducing in the classified individuals a collectively recognized and sup ported belief in the differences, thus producing behaviours that are in tended to bring real being into line with official being. Activities as alien to the explicit demands of the institution as keeping a diary, wearing heavy make-up, theatre-going or going dancing, wri ting poems or play ing rugby can thus find themselves inscribed in the position allotted within the institution as a tacit demand constantly underlined by various
26
/ A Social Critique of the judgement of Taste
mediations. Among the most important of these afe teachers' conscious or unconscious expectations and peer�group pressure, whose ethical ori entation is itself defined by the class values brought into and reinforced by the institution. This allocation effect and the status assignment it en· tails doubtless play a major role in the fact that the educational institu tion succeeds in imposing cultural practices that it does not teach and does not even explicitly demand, but which belong to the attributes at tached by status to the position it assigns, the gualifications it awards and the social positions to which the latter give access. This logic doubtless helps to explain how the legitimate disposition that is acguired by freguent contact with a particular class of works, namely, the literary and philosophical works recognized by the academic canon, comes to be extended to other, less legitimate works, such as avant-garde literature, or to areas enjoying less academic recognition, such as the cinema. The generalizing tendency is inscribed in the very principle o f the disposition to recognize legitimate works, a propensity and capacity to recognize their legitimacy and perceive them as worthy of admiration in themselves, which is inseparable from (he capacity to rec ognize in them something already known, i.e., the stylistic traits appro priate to characterize them in their singularity ( 'It's a Rembrandt', o r even 'It's the Helmeted Man') or a s members of a class of works ( ,It's Im pressionist' ) . This explains why the propensity and capacity to accumu late 'gratuitous' knowledge, such as the names of film directors, are more closely and exclusively linked to educational capital than is mere cinema going, which is more dependent on income, place of residence and age. Cinema-going, measured by rhe number of films seen among the twenty films mentioned in the survey, is lower among the less-educated than among the more highly educated, but also lower among provincials (in Lille) than among Parisians, among low-income than among high-income groups, and among old than among young people. And the same relation ships are found in rhe surveys by the Centre d'etudes des suppOrtS de publi cite (CESP): the proportion who say they have been to the cinema at least once in the previous week (a more reliable indicator of behaviour than a question on cinema-going in the course of the year, for which the tendency to oversrate is particularly strong) is rather greater among men than women (7.8 percent compared to ) . 3 percent), greater in the Paris area ( 10.9 percent) than in towns of over 100,000 people (7.7 percent) or in rural areas (3.6 percent), greater among senior executives and members of the professions ( 11.1 percent) than among junior executives (9.) percent) or clerical and commercial employees (9.7 percent), skilled manual workers and foremen (7.3 percent), semi-skilled workers (6.3 percent ) , small em ployers ( 5.2 percent) and farmers and farm workers (2.6 percent). But the greatest contrasts are between the ' youngest (22.4 percent of the 2 1-24 year olds had been to the cinema at least once in the previous week) and the oldest (only 3.2 percent of the 35-49 year olds, 1.7 percent of the 50-64
The Aristocracy of Culture / 27 year olds and 1.1 percent of the over-6)s ) , and between the most and least highly educated ( 18.2 percent of those who had been through higher edu catIOn, 9.) percent of those who had had secondary education, and 2.2 per cent of those who had had oply primary education or none at all had been to the cinema in the previous. week) (C.S. XIIIa). 12 Knowledge of directors is much more closely linked to cultural capital than is mere cinema-going. Only ) percent of the respondents who had an elementary school diploma could name at least four directors ( fcorp a list of twenty films) compared to 10 percent of holders of the BEPC or the baeea laurea! and 22 percent of those who had had higher education, whereas the proportion in each category who had seen at least four of the twenty films was 22 percent, 3 3 percent and 40 percent respectively. Thus, although film viewing also varies with educational capital ( less so, however, than visit.s to museums and concerts) , it seems that differences in consumption are not sufficient to explain the differences in knowledge of directors between holders of different gualifications. This conclusion would probably also hold good for jazz, strip cartoons, detective stories or science fiction, now that these genres have begun to achieve cultural consecration. 1 3 Further proof is that, while increasing slightly with level o f education ( from 13 percent for the least educated to 18 percent for those with second ary education and 23 percent for the most gualified ) , knowledge of actors varies mainly-and considerably-with the number of films seen. This awareness, like knowledge of the slightest events in the lives of TV person alities, presupposes a disposition closer to that required for the acquisition . of ordInary knowledge about everyday things and people than to the legiti mate diSPOSItIon. And IOdeed, these least-educated regular cinema�goers knew as many actors' names as the most highly educated. Among those who had seen at least four of the films mentioned, 45 percent of those who had had only a primary education were able to name four actors, as against 35 percent of those who had had a secondary education and 47 percent of those who had had some higher education. Interest in actors is greatest among office workers: on average they named 2.8 actors and one director, whereas the craftsmen and small shopkeepers, skilled workers and foremen named, on average, only 0.8 actors and 0.3 directors. (The secretaries and junior commercial executives, who also knew a large number of actors-av erage 2A-were more interested in directors-average l A-and those in the social and medical services even named more directors-1 .7-than actors1.4). The reading of sensational weeklies (e.g., lei Paris ) which give infor mation about the lives of stars is a product of a disposition similar to inter est in actors; it is more frequent among women than men ( 10.S perce'n t had read lei Paris in the last week, compared to 9.3 percent of the men ) , among skIlled workers and foremen ( 14.5 percent), semi-skilled workers ( 1 3.6 percent), or office workers ( 10.3 percent) than among junior execu tlves (S.6 percent) and especially among senior executives and members of the professions ( 3.8 percent) (C.S. XXVII I ) . . By contrast, although a t equivalent levels of education, knowledge of dIrectors IOcreases with the number of films seen, in this area assiduous cin ema-going does not compensate for absence of educational capital: 45.) per� cent of the CEP-holders who had seen at least four of the films mentioned
28 / A Social Critique of the judgement of Taste could not name a single director, compared to 27.5 percent of those with a BEPe or the baccalaureat and l 3 percent of those with a higher education diploma. Such competence is not necessarily acquired by means of the 'scholas tic' labours in which some 'cinephiles' or 'jazz-freaks' indulge (e.g., tran scribing film credits onto catalogue cards) . " Most often it results ftom the unintentional learning made possible by a disposition acquired through domestic or scholastic inculcation of legitimate culture. This transposable disposition, armed with a set of perceptual and evaluative schemes that are available for general application, inclines its owner to wards other cultural experiences and enables him to perceive, classify and memorize them differently. Where some only see 'a Western starring Burt Lancaster', others 'discover an early John Sturges' or 'the latest Sam Peckinpah'. In identifying what is worthy of being seen and the right way to see it, they are aided by their whole social group (which guides and reminds them with its 'Have you seen . . . ?' and 'You must see . . .') and by the whole corporation of critiCs mandated by the group to pro duce legitimate classifications and the discourse necessarily accompanying any artistic enjoyment worthy of the name. I t is possible to explain in such terms why cultural practices which schools do not teach and never explicitly demand vary in such close rela tion to educational qualifications (it being understood, of course, that we are provisionally suspending the distinction between the school's role in the correlation observed and that of the other socializing agencies, in particular the family ) . But the fact that educational qualifications func tion as a condition of entry to the universe of legitimate culture cannot be fully explained without taking into account another, still more hid den effect which the educational system, again reinforcing the work of the bourgeois family, exerts through the very conditions within which it inculcates. Thtough the educational qualification certain conditions of existence are designated-those which constitute the precondition for obtaining the qualification and also the aesthetic disposition, the most rigorously demanded of all the terms of entry which the world of legiti mate culture ( always tacitly) imposes. Anticipating what will be demon strated later, one can posit, in broad terms, that it is because they are linked either to a bourgeois origin or to the quasi-bourgeois mode of ex istence presupposed by prolonged schooling, or ( most often) to both of these combined, that educational qualifications come to be seen as a guar antee of the capacity to adopt the aesthetic disposition. Any legitimate work tends in fact to im THE AESTHETIC DISPOSITION pose the norms of its own perception and tacitly defines as the only legiti mate mode of perception the one which brings into play a certain disposition and a certain competence. Recognizing this fact does not mean constituting a particular mode of perception as an essence, thereby
The Aristocracy of Culture / 29 falling into the illusion which is the basis of recognition of artistic legiti macy. I t does mean taking note of the fact that all agents, whether they Itke It or not, whether or not they have the means of conforming to them, find themselves objectively measured by those norms. A t the same time it becomes possible to establish whether these dispositions and competences are gifts of nature, as the charismatic ideology of the rela tion to the work of art would have it, or products of learning, and to bring to light the hidden conditions of the miracle of the unequal class dIstrIbution of the capacity for inspired encounters with works of art and high culture in general. Every essentialist analysis of the aesthetic disposition, the only socially accepted 'right' way of approaching the objects socially designated as works of art, that is, as both demanding and deserving to be approached with a specifically aesthetic intention capable of recognizing and consti tuting them as works of art, is bound to fail. Refusing to take account of the collective and individual genesis of this product of history which must be endlessly 're-produced' by education, it is unable to reconstruct its sole raison d'etre, that is, the historical reason which underlies the ar bitrary necessity of the institution. If the work of art is indeed, as Pan ofsky says, that which 'demands to be experienced aesrhetically', and if any object, natural or artificial, can be perceived aesthetically, how can one escape the conclusion that it is the aesthetic intention which 'makes the work of art', or, to transpose a formula of Saussure's, that it is the aesthetic point of view that creates the aesthetic object' To get out of this vicious circle, Panofsky has to endow the work of art with an 'inten tion', in the Scholastic sense. A purely 'practical' perception contradicts this objective intention, just as an aesthetic perception would in a sense be a practical negation of the objective intention of a signal, a red light for example, which requires a 'practical' response: braking. Thus, within the class of worked-upon objects, themselves defined in opposition to natural objects, the class of art objects would be defined by the fact that it demands to be perceived aesthetically, i.e., in terms of form rather than function. But how can such a definition be made operational? Panofsky hImself observes that i t is virtually impossible to determine scientifically at what moment a worked-upon object becomes an art object, that is, at what moment form takes over from function: 'If I write to a friend to invite him to dinner, my letter is primarily a communication. But the more I shift the emphasis to the form of my script, the more nearly does it become a work of literature or poetry d5 Does this mean that the demarcation line between the world of tech nical objects and the world of aesthetic objects depends on the 'intention' of the producer of those objects? In fact, this 'intention' is itself the prod uct of the SOCIal norms and conventions which combine to define the always uncertain and historically changing frontier between simple tech nIcal obJects and objets d'art: 'Classical tastes', Panofsky observes, 'de manded that private letters, legal speeches and the shields of heroes
30
/ A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste
should be "artistic" . . . while modern taste demands that architecture , and ash trays should be "functional". ,6 But the apprehension and appreciation of the work also depend on the beholder's intention, which is itself a function of the conventional norms governing the relation to the work of art in a certain historical and social situation and also of the beholder's capacity to conform to those norms, i.e., his artistic training. To break out of this circle one only has to ob serve that the ideal of 'pure' perception of a work of art qua work of art is the product of the enunciation and systematization of the principles of specifically aesthetic legitimacy which accompany the constituting of a relatively autonomous artistic field. The aesthetic mode of perception in the 'pure' form which it has now assumed corresponds to a particular state of the mode of artistic production. An art which, like all Post Impressionist painting, for example, is the product of an artistic inten tion which asserts the absolute primacy ofform over function, of the mode of representation over the object represented, categorically demands a purely aesthetic disposition which earlier art demanded only conditionally. The demiurgic ambition of the artist, capable of applying to any object the pure intention of an artistic effort which is an end in itself, calls for un limited receptiveness on the part of an aesthete capable of applying the specifically aesthetic intention to any object, whether or not it has been produced with aesthetic intention. This demand is objectified in the art museum; there the aesthetic dis position becomes an institution. Nothing more totally manifests and achieves the auronorriizing of aesthetic activity vis-a.-vis extra-aesthetic interests or functions than the art museum's juxtaposition of works. Though originally subordinated to quite different or even incompatible functions ( crucifix and fetish, Pied and still life ) , these juxtaposed works tacitly demand attention to form rather than function, technique rather than theme, and, being constructed in styles that are mutually exclusive but all equally necessary, they are a practical challenge to the expectation of realistic representation as defined by the arbitrary canons of an every day aesthetic, and so lead naturally from stylistic relativism to the neu tralization of the very function of representation. Objects previously treated as collectors' curios or historical and ethnographic documents have achieved the status of works of art, thereby materializing the omnip otence of the aesthetic gaze and making it difficult to ignote the fact that-if it is not to be merely an arbitrary and therefore suspect affirma tion of this absolute powet-artistic contemplation now has to include a degree of erudition which is liable to damage the illusion of immediate illumination that is an essential element of pure pleasure. TASTE In short, never perhaps has more been asked of the spectator, who is now required to 're-produce' the pri mary operation whereby the artist (with the complicity of his whole inP U R E TASTE AND
' BARBAROUS '
The Aristocracy of Culture / 3 1 Icl lcctual field) produced this new fetish. 17 But never perhaps has he I wen given so much in return. The naive exhibitionism of 'conspicuous , onsumption', which seeks distinction in the crude display of ill-mastered luxury, is nothing compared to the unique capacity of the pure gaze, a quasi-creative power which sets the aesthete apart from the common herd hy a radical diffetence which seems to be inscribed in 'persons'. One only has to read Ortega y Gasset to see the reinforcement the charismatic ide ology derives from art, which is 'essentiaBy unpopular, indeed, anti popular' and from the 'curious sociological effect' it produces by dividing I he public into two 'antagonistic castes', those who understand-and those who do not'. 'This implies', Ortega goes on, 'that some possess an organ of understanding which others have been denied; that these are twO dis IinC( varieties of the human species. The new art is not for everyone, like Romantic art, but destined fat an especially gifted minority.' And he as nibes to the 'humiliation' and 'obscure sense of infetiority' inspired by 'fhis art of privilege, sensuous nobility, instinctive aristocracy', the irrita� lion it arouses in the mass, 'unworthy of artistic sacraments': 'For a cen� IUry and a half, the "people", the mass, have claimed to be the whole of ." Kiety. The music of Stravinsky or the plays of Pirandello have the socio logical power of obliging them to ·see themselves as they are, as the "common people", a mere ingredient among others in the social struc ture, the inert material of the historical process, a secondary factor in the spiritual cosmos. By contrast, the young art helps the "best" to know and recognize one another in the greyness of the multitude and to learn their mission, which is to be few in number and to have to fight against the , multitude. ls And to show that the self-legitimating imagination of the 'happy Ji:w' has no limits, one only has to quote a recent text by Suzanne I.anger, who is presented as 'one of the world's most influential philoso phers': 'In the past, the masses did not have access to art; music, painting, and even books, were pleasures reserved for the rich. It might have been supposed that the poor, the "common people", would have enjoyed them equally, if they had had the chance. But now that everyone can rcad, go to museums, listen to great music, at least on the radio, the judgement of the masses about these things has become a reality and through this it has become clear that great art is not a direct sensuous pleasute. Otherwise, like cookies or cocktails, it would flatter uneducated , l aste as much as cultured taste. 19 I t should not be thought that the relationship of distinction (which may or may not imply the conscious intention of distinguishing oneself ifom common people) is only an incidental component in the aesthetic disposition . The pure gaze implies a break with the ordinary attitude to wards the world which, as such, is a social break. One can agree with Or lega y Gasset when he attributes to modern art-which merely takes to its extreme conclusions an intention implicit in art since the Renais-
32
/ A Social Critique 0/ the Judgement 0/ Taste
sance-a systematic tefusal of all that is 'human', by which he means the passions, emotions and feelings which ordinary people put into their ordi nary existence, and consequently all the themes and objects capable of evoking them: 'People like a play when they are able to take an interest in the human destinies put before them', in which 'they participate as if 2 they were real-life events.' 0 Rejecting the 'human' clearly means reject iog what is generic, i.e., common, 'c3;sy' and immediately accessible, start� ing with everything that reduces the aesthetic animal to pure and simple animality, to palpable pleasure or sensual desire. The interest in the content of the representation which leads people to call 'beautiful' the representation of beautiful things, especially. those which speak most im mediately to the senses and the sensibility, is rejected in favour of the in of the difference and distance which refuse to subordinate j udgement " It can be seen representation to the nature of the object represented. that it is not so easy to describe the 'pure' gaze without also describing the naive gaze which it defines itself against, and vice versa; and that there is no neutral, impartial, 'pure' description of either of these oppos ing visions ( which does not mean that one has to subscribe to aesthetic relativism, when it is so obvious that the 'popular aesthetic' is defined in relation to 'high' aesthetics and that reference to legitimate art and its negative judgement on 'popular' taste never ceases to haunt the popular experience of beauty) . Refusal or privation' It is as dangerous to attrib ute the:: coherence of a systematic aesthetic to the objectively aesthetIC co mmitments of ordinary people as it is to adopt, albeit unconsciously, the strictly negative conception of ordinary vision which is the basis of every 'high' aesthetic. Everyihing takes place as if the 'popular aes thetic' were based on the affirmation of continuity between art and life, which implies the subordination of form to function, or, one might say. on a refusal of the refusal which is the starting point of the high aes thetic, i.e., the clear-cut separation of ordinary dispositions from the spe cifically aesthetic disposition. The hostility of the working class and of the middle-class fractions least rich in cultural capital towards every kind of formal experimentation asserts itself both in the theatre and in paint ing, or still more clearly, because they have less legitimacy, in photogra phy and the cinema. In the theatre as in the cinema, the popular audien.ce delights in plots that proceed logically and chronologically towards a happy end, and 'identifies' better with simply drawn situations and char acters than with ambiguous and symbolic figures and actions or the emg matic problems of the theatre of cruelty, not to mention the suspended animation of Beckettian heroes or the bland absurdities of Pinteresque di alogue. Their reluctance or refusal springs not just from lack of familiar ity but from a deep-rooted demand for participation, which formal experiment systematically disappoints, especially whefl, refusing to offer
THE POPULAR
'
AESTHETIC
'
The Aristocracy 0/ Culture / 33 the 'vulgar' arrracrions of an art of illusion, the theatrical fiction de nounces itself, as in all forms of 'play within a play'. Pirandello supplies the paradigm here, in plays in which the actors are actors unable to act Six Characters in Search 0/ an Author, Comme ci (ou comme (a ) or Ce soir on improvise-and Jean Genet supplies the formula in the Prologue to The Blacks: 'We shall have the politeness, which you have taught us, to make communication impossible. The distance initially between us we shall increase, by our splendid gestures, our manners and our insolence,' for we are also acrors:' The desire to enter into the game, identifying with the characters' joys and sufferings, worrying abou t their fate, espousing their hopes and ideals, living their life, is based on a form of investment, a sort of deliberate 'naivety', ingenuousness, good-natured credulity ( 'We're here to enjoy ourselves'), which tends to accept formal experiments and specifically artistic effects only to the extent that they can be forgotten and do not get in the way of the substance of the work. The cultural divide which associates each class of works with its public means that it is not easy to obtain working-class people's first-hand judge men ts on formalist innovations in modern art. However television which brings certain performances of 'high' art into the hom�, or certai � cultural institutions (such as the Beaubourg Centre or the Maisons de la culture ) , which briefly bring a working-class public into contact with high art and sometimes avant-garde works, create what are virtually ex perimental situations, neither more nor less artificial or unreal than those necessarily produced by any survey on legitimate culture in a working class milieu. One then observes the confusion, sometimes almost a sort of panic mingled with revolt, that is induced by some exhibits-I am thinking of Ben's heap of coal, on view at Beaubourg shortly after it opened-whose parodic intention, entirely defined in terms of an artistic fleld and �ts relatively autonomous history" is seen as a sort of aggression, an affront to common sense and sensible people. Likewise, when formal experimentation irisinuates itself into their familiar entertainments (e.g., TV variety shows with sophisticated technical effects, such as those by Jean-Christophe Averty) working-class viewers protest, not only because they do not feel the need for these fancy games, but because they some times understand that they derive their necessity from the logic of a field of production which excludes them precisely by these games: 'I don't like those cut-up things at all, where you see a head, then a nose, then a leg: . . . First you see a singer all drawn out, three metres tall, then the next minute he's got arms two metres long. Do you find that funny' Oh, I just don't like it, it's stupid, 1 don't see the point of distorting things' (a baker, Grenoble). Formal refinement-which, in literature or the theatre, leads to obscu rity-is, in the eyes of the working-class public, one sign of what is some times felt to be a desire ro keep the uninitiated at arm's length, or, as one respondent said about certain cultural programmes on TV, to speak to
34 /
A
The AriJtocrary of Culture / 35
Social Critique of the Judgement (1 FelSle
paraphe rnalia other initiates 'over the viewers' head
22.5
28.0
39.5
4.0
71
15.5
25.5
6.0
4.0
6.0
"
� Q
�.
�.
� Tabk 2
(continued). Bark of a tret'
Educational capital
N
No qualification, CEP CAP BEPC Baccaiaureat Started higher education Licence Agregation, grande ecole
Cabbages
Butcher's stall
No reply or Meaning· InterestMeaning· lnterestNo reply or Meaning- InterestNo reply or Beautiful ing I,,, Beautiful incoherent Ugly I", incoherent Ugly "" ing Beautiful incoherent Ugly '"g
314
2.0
14.5
46.5
21.5
15.5
l.5
31.0
46.0
16.5
'.0
2.0
28.0
5.0
1.0
20.0
37.0
37.0
60
15.5
24.0
6.0
5.0
16.5
7.0
8.'
197
2.5
8.'
31.5
30.0
27.5
3.0
28.0
48.5 47.0
56.0 63.0
10.0
97
17.0
'.0
2.0
17.0
55.0
1 3.0
13.0
217
2.0
3.0
21.0
32.0
42.0
3.0
295
32.0
25.0
10.5
2.0
17.5
48.5
ll8
6.0
1.0
23.0
2'5.0
45.0
4.0
30.5
29.0
18.5
18.0
6.0
9.0
475
19.5
18.0
182
0
3.0
18.0
23.0
4.'
29.5
22.5
24.0
16.0
51.5
8.0
3.0
8.'
24.0
4.0
295
23.0
18.0
19.5 25.5
2.0
4.0
56.0 60.5
3.0
11.0
38.0
21:0
22.5 27.0
71
Educational qualification
None, CEP, CAP BEPC and above BEPC bac higher education
Uppe'
,
� � ;;:
13.0
man, a snake, an "old master" ?' In each column, the italic figures indi cate the strongest tendencies.
Aesthetic disposition, by class and education ( % ) .
Working None, CEP, CAP BEPC and above� Middle
!
weaver at his loom, a folk dance, a rope, the bark of a tree, a butcher's stall, a famous monument, a scrap-yard, a first communion, a wounded
Pregnant woman Classes
4.0
19.0
a. The respondents had to answer this question: 'Given the following subjects, is a photographer more likely to make a beautiful, interesting, meaningless, or ugly photo: a landscape, a car crash, a little girl playing with a cat, a pregnant woman, a still life, a woman suckling a child, a metal frame, tramps quarrelling, cabbages, a sunset over the sea, a
Table 3
� '" 0%-
None, CEP, CAP " BEPC and above BEPC bac highe"r education technical college licence
agreg., grande ecole
N 143
Cabbages
No reply or No reply or incoherent Ugly Meaningless Interesting Beautiful incoherent Ugly Meaningless Interesting Beautiful 1.5
40.0
36.5
14.0
0
8.0
39.0
22.0
1 1 .0
28.0
0
1.0
46.0
27.5
15.0
335
10.5
3.5
34.0
2.0
30.0
13.5
149
3.5
19.0
39.0
35.0
140
9.0
1 3. 5
3.5
37.0
21.0
17.5
46
4.0
8.5
42.0
18 243
1.5
28.0
57.0
8.5
5.5
72.5
16.5
5.5
22.5
61.5
10.0
4.0
2.5
17.5
49.5
14.5
16.0
2.0
21.0
56.0
8.5
12.5
2 1 .0
3.0
15.5
45.0
13.0
19.5
17.0
32.5
4.0
13.0
41.0
20.0
22.0
20.0
36.0
28.0
12.0
4.0
5.0
25
20.0
36.0
24.0
12.0
432
3.0
8.0
36.0
22.0
19.0
31
6.5
20.0
48.5
38.5
0
3.0
14.5
48.0
15.5
6.5
19.0
6.5
6.5
38.5
32.5
16.0
76
� �
'"-
...
", .
�
0
60.5
16.0
5.0
325
18.5
3.0
30.0
0
22.5
21.0
55.5
2).0
17.0
6.5
21.5
3.0
14.0
47.5
�
13.5
22.0
52.0
20.0
15.0 23.0
� (;\
27.0
80
7.5
17.5
30.0
32.5
174
12.5
0.5
36.0
6.5
21.5
6.5
19.5
71
4.0
22.5
29.5
2.0
17.0
20.0
18. 5
49.0
7.5
29.5
3.0
11.0
38.0
21.0
;:,"
�
--..... w
'-'
38
The Aristocracy of Culture / 39
/ A Social Critique of theJudgement of Taste C! C! � O: O:
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....... '�CJ>ts, f�rmulae, instc:ld of relying on Improvisation; it substi. Ihe ll l ent'o.n�1 quasi syslemaricilY of a formal 1CSthellc for the Ob� tIY� s l (�! Pfillci jSlernaltwy of Ihe '1C$thel1c·in·itself' prooucc
'i, ,' S , ' S S . , • • • • ' " , • • • , . ' ' S " .S,,'S' joY'hOY"''', 1978), 1'1'. 1 1'-118.
. PQ5iuon of Op-I taI, are P" � __ . .J 10 mark d·. O ' "Spo,.;u I erenccs WIthin Ihe cIomi. ' . . ' I"" �s d·, I erences In · cultural capllal muk rhe differences be. t..._n . " Ihe cI 64 Thai lS why manners, cspcc:iaJly Ihe manne r of n:11(Ionship 10 uses .. . ate Icglum cultur e, are the stake in � .....rmanrnl stru, ,, .1c ln� - � �o neulral SUtemeOl m . Ihese mailers: .thc ' (erms Ing.. designat. . . the 0:tsmg dlspo sl�lons c n be t ken as compitmentary or pcjora II�t � � . � ...� on Ihe po m l of vIew. It IS no aCCident {har Ihe opposition t n Ihe scholastIC' (or 'pedamic' ) and Ihe monda II'$Slo � in' (he efforr. I ,eganl, IS ' �t the hearr of debat es over tUfe and cullu re in eve'" " �8t, �h'md rwo B -, , . _ � ucmS r _ -. ys _ P'U
If the foregoing argumcnt suggestS an 'analysis of cw::";"� ,": ' removed, it would �m, from Heidegger and his ·01.1 C nuse mOSt 8rouPS hl'·e sought to lay down absolule, means of the irI'Cversibilily of time, which gives i n fbible form of social order based on the order of succes:\ions. cJaimanlS to sueces:\ion-father and son, owner and heir, master ciple, plC'decasor and successor�re sepalated by nothing. bUI there is every SOrt of social mechanism to make this gllp able. Thus. in fhe scruggle belween the diffe�nt 'manners', i e (he em manners of acquiring the dominant groups arc always on the i
.
,"
T� ArlJ/t)CI'ary ofCullurt / 73
,
most I
that is. the oldest ac 'nsensible and invisible mode of qui sition ' us one. This is whal provides thc invariOlnt elements of t� t recio and moS , n( discourse and gives an air of eternal youth to cerrain doml they Olre in realily strictly situated Olnd dOlled, like all the I�e O al h ugh es m , the bces of elegant disquisition on innate taste or Ihe blundering (Ommonp . . anIS. of ped
� �
-
!
�
.
gnificance b:tSed on funcrional and stfUClural ' I mastcry of social si )'day reading of the '�I�ics'" and, underlies and f.!ci itues ev r . , a qUite spec,al use (c it is a pracncal use. hterary qUOlallon sin O ".,mom which is l son of summons 10 appear as a,h'oote and wilflCSS, of b:asis of a soci:!1 wlid:!rilY disguised as in· 10 a pasl author on lhe �Iidlrlly , Th' ,rKliol sense of mC'Olning, which SlOPS Sholl of ,luaI . >V td.. thIt wouId ' u dlyS, the f." th�r .n Increasingly luge proportion of the
SlflCu bou'grolsie 's making ;nlen$ivtc use of the (duca,ionl1 system (and ::!:1.lJy, In Fnncr, the gra"dtJ kokJ) is tending to modify Ihe form of lhe h l n betWeen the mandOlin and ,he scholast1c--
This means
I am
Ihe
I
by every i I I 'sense', funCt o ing in i I �ra (e.g.. lilerary history. at Iwt among the most has the eif«t o I the weight of what is abandoned to o economic and cultul"lLl inhetilance. that these diff"et('nces (Ontinue to function in Olher cover .heir full force as soon as the logic moves real mkes into these areas-which it of course a to do.
in f reducing. the diff"et('nces linked t
tJLI�d mOld t
inheriled 'senses' and.
of.he Struggle f":.�:;,';,,���f
iu
The 1djectives the tapondenls ha� chosen 10 describe an ;","'0" . the source of their furnirure. are more closely linked 10 their social than to their educational qualifications ( un l ke their judgement on togl"lLphs or their knowleJge of composers), more directly depends on etfly letm in , especi11ly Ihe letming takes place without any e�prns imention to tC2Ch, than the and knowledge that are investeJ in clothi , furnishing and more precisely. n the way clothes, furniture and food the mode of acquisition of furniture (department store, shop Ot Flet Mukel) depends at leul 15 much on social sc ooling. A. equal eJucarional levels, .hose members of the class who were also born nto that class-who. more often than Olhers, in heri ted so e o .heir umi tut('"--1c<jui red their furniture cially those living in Pari ) from an anti<jue..detlcr more oftcn than artment born into other classes. who tcnded to buy from a dep spec alized shop or the Flea Market. (T e I:IS{ i
i
g
h
m f s
i
f
i
h
r./Jk ,
rc
Oq>anmc·ru Specialized
Social origin
Lowc. th.n b1{ Working .nd middle d.""
,.kg
C1I.ion .nd soci.l origin .heir furnitutC" I and $0 cnjoy a dual title ro eullUral (a. . I(Ural cap' ' (pamr y 'amI'I'I:lmy b (\I , f I gitimarc membership and rhe cue g,ven 1SIuran( upital :ltional educ boIh lack firs!. to . , ar of cuiru..1 ,,, ".. e of mOl( precise indicarors of Ihc overall In t"•e a,,.--"I . . style . sa"flol weeklles Lt Cana�d ,he between n cOnlumplion (c.g., the oppositio . Enchainl ind Char/if Htbik, or, in Ihe area of �pular �lCnce, be,ween Sa Study 'he ",forma(lon the survey pro m« fI Vi, ,nd PJyrMogif), one can .ioo on favou,;,e singers. lr might be thought ,hat ,he fact th.t, �t .11 Ie,'els of eduution.l caplla!. the younges, respondents choose ,he slllgers of Ihe )'oun�r generation (Fr-an�oise Hardy or johnny Hallyday) more oftcn than fhe older respondentS, who more often choose older slIIgers (Gui'tary 0' Moriano), IS .dequ.tely explained by thc dates of ,he singers' firsr app:ar. .n(( 111 the field of cultural producrion. In facr, among b.cC:llauri'ar·holders, tk young7), Luis Mariano (born 1ns, scienc e fiction or defective SlOries are p�dispose
which is to competcncc what 'play' is
'.I
(0
thc 'hand' in in category who kno"'' the composers 0 r at least twelve of the musical works with the proportIo who cl"m that ·abstract painting Interests them as much n a.l the dUsir , s '. chool$'. 0n the one hand there are the ft:ilctions whose strict com· !>ete c ' g�.ter (han their sense of the 'right' .nswer highn uca (secondary and �on .r chers), and g.'ti",. on the other, tho whose se sense of the � f'Os re IS '"commensurate , wllh their specific comper encc (new pe. u . .", 'g"o'SIt ' , armur . , pruuu _ � eers). The g�p is smalbt ' ne '"-, Ong th I'Illni!''''tIvee"sIng peUt bourgeo i, or bourgeois (primary teac:hers, junior ad. . I1 "' e�ecu, . ' IVes, eng ne ers, senIor pubhe·sector ' � "Ot f>Ossible [0 use ,he opinions on music because-unlike ,n askin,
':� �
guided
� Fb,:be��
e:;�5 : lire bo ,
Ie
w , uuurgle opinion lov, the ImpressionistS')-.he ..n� of possible jud�men!S prescnt.,] gfeit a discominuity between .he t)'pinlly middle·brow opinion ('I iLkc Smuss walt=') :lnd the chic opinion ('AI! muSIC of quality imerl'sts , so .ha. the choice of .he mosr legi.imilC judgement became . for all those who refused .0 make do wi.h a ,00 visibly 'naive'
is so
e manncr which designares the infallible taste of the 'taste-maker' ,xposes the uncertain lastes of the possessors of an 'ill'gOlten' culture
the v'7pottan." in all markets and especially in the markCl which decides u htcl":lry and arristic wotks, only because choices always owe
:'r :�e�rl f value to the value of rhe chooser, and because, to a large ex· h cf Ch�� �alue makes itself known and recognized through the manncr git fl'l lng What is learnt through immersion �rt ten,
in a world in which Ie· i at . e cultu re is as nall,lI"�1 as the air one brl':lthes is a sense of the legit.
.-
- -
,
sheer im�{c choice so $U� of Itself {har it convinces by {he of the performance. like a successful bluff. II is no! only a sense 10 in,'cst in, dir«lors r:l.lhn than anol'S. thc avam.gardc mor ��
are
ANO
I
what is 2t stake in the late·nineleenth-century creation of xample,eJrion gi�ing great imporunce to iporl-with, among edu �re � fO' pro Edouard Dc:moltns, the founder of the Ecole des Roches and dis. ollllCl"S' c Lc Play, like Baron de Coubertin, another advoulC of a FridCri f e clp s�ylc of ed�cation-i5 th� i��iti�m o.f an aristocratic definition of n(Vo' d wirhm the audeml( mstltutlon Ilsclf. Knowledge, erudition, on ed���holasric' docility symbolize001 affirms liSe',.'will', ,he virtues of the !C,he 2dcr (of the army or busi. 18Y" 'cou�g � m m� th�r tI �t . . II was �I �t Ihe sa�e (�mg) a�d"perhaps especially, (personal) InlUl(lVe, bapme
to
•
.
'
, •
I
.. .......
·""1'" 'J •.•• J ....6..
·
. ...·
'J
. .... .
the frivolous, the responsible ,nd Ihe irresponsible. the useful and die, [he realistic and the unrealistic. The principles of logical division which s[atistics uses to
;,::;:;:: �
classes md the dau il records lbou[ them a� there£o� also
'
'socia-Iogial' division. The StltiSlical vuiations associated ivdy defined) tWO main varilbl�ducadonal level ,nd SOCial
;:;
can only be correctly imerpreted so long as il is remembered 'h,,, , bo��d up wilh. am'g(lOisti( definitions of legitimare cull u re and leg[umate relauon 10 culture. or. more precisely, with different " , in which the char:lcteristics associated with one or Ihe " " ferenl prices. It would be wholly misr,ken 10 locate in any . faclors an 'effic:lcy' which only appars in a cemin Iherefore be cancelled out or inverred in anorher field or rhe same field. The dispositions constiruting Ihe cultivated only formed, only funerion and are only valid in , field, in Ihe ship wi�h a field which. as GaslOn Bachelard nys of Ihe physical [tself a field of possLble forces', a 'dynamLc situation','7 in which are only manifesled in Iheir relationShip wilh cerrain dispositions. why [he same pracrico may receive opposile meanings and values ferent fields, in differem configurations or in opposing SCClOrs same field.
" '''' ,;;;;�
So reflective analysis of Ihe [ools of analysis is not an sc�ple but. an indisJ:>Cnnble ptNondilion of scicntific knowledge . . I de£errSive, effoT! oble([. PoS!ILVLS[ lnmess It:lds the whole, I fication to be focus�d on the Imensity of I of bringing queslioning to be:ar on lhe very of lhe relationships, which may even explain the relarive i dIfferent relationShips. In order to believe in rhe independence dependem variables' of positivist me[hodology. one has 10 be rhal 'expbnatory faCtors' are also 'powers' which are onlt Ii tiv� in a certain field, and thai Ihey rhe[e£ore depend on Ihe wh"h are foughl, within each fIeld, transform {he . mechanisms which define il. [f it is easy to imagine fields i
'1" ;"."�' ""'!
ro
P:"�::'�
�;
���:: i :���;
""eight of Ihe twO dominam 'faCiOrs' would be inverted (and tCSIS
would be the experimenlal expression of this. giVing � !. I for example, [0 less 'scholastic' objects and forms of t:>tnuse wh�t is ultimalely a[ stake in everyday snuggles over rhe [ransformalion of the price-forming mechanisms d.:fining the values of the cultural productions associ�ted with educatioml and social trajeclory (and [he primary variables Ihrough which Ihey
grasped) .
� ��
If it is [fue that [he s[alislical relationships between rhe p" p,, , tached 10 agents and Iheir pr.lc[ices arr only fully defined in ship between the dispositions of a habitus and a particular limirs wilhin which (he n:lations observed rel�in their """d,,y�"
. ion which is the pre-condition for full �nen.lization-O?re. �f r cher. (Tho: ck.n�n -:-w�l(h .m�y po$Ulon of' III 'dcmOCr:ltlZ>.lIon or m agemg .) com�n.cd by a risc ,n SOCial ollgm--or TllI' �mc woold be lrue of lny group defined by referencc !O a posilion in in ,he hier:lrchy of di$Ciplines,. a title of , licld-e.g., a univel$i[y. di�ipline . In the lIiS\ocr:lllC hierarchy, an cducallonal qualdicallon III lhe aca
('tn� ! '� � � �"
'
ral principles of selt(:tion or e�clusion without e"er Slaled (this is the 05C with ethnic origin and $(�). A number �riteria in �acr ser:e as a mask for hidden crileria; for e�amplc, Ihe
Ill? ?f a
bsen l from [he offICial job descriprion. function 15 [aci( re· s!> a ...hlch. thOU such as age, sex. social or c,hnic origin. ovcrtly or implicitly en choices, from enlry in,o the profession and right through qVII'Cm C�ption I!>ese tr:lil$ 1fe cxcluded O! &u,dln& that membel$ of ,he corps who lack r , ro be ro:sniClcd to a fc· ,ending lawyers and (",omen doc,ol$ , ," � ' l n m,rSl " cle and black doctols and lawyers fO black c1ienrs or research). en n'I,k ch I c property emphasized by the name used 10 clcsign1<e a (alt· orl II h I s U «upation, is li�ble 10 m..sk lhe effC'Ct of all the secondary gory. usua Y o ",hlCh although cons[itulive of lhe calCSOry, :lrC nOf exprnsly r0"'wcs '
gIven dIploma can be a way of demanding a particular
�
:
soc,al
� ao;'
nobiliTY
One needs to examine what Ihe list of Ihe crileria u� by Ihe analrs! de rives from the state of Ihe struggle betWtcn ,'� (rileria, or more precisely from the capacity �: leria, to gel Ihemselves recognized as such. There would be of forg �tling thaI unskilled workers are '0 a brge extent women grants ,f groups bued on scx or nationali!y of origin had cons!iTutcd sclves as such within The working class. Furthermore, the fallacy of the apparent facror would nor be so frequem if il were nOI the simpk '"'''''' , non onto Ihc lerrain of seience of Ihe kgilimaling stratcgio:s whereby groups len� [0 pUt. fo,:",ard [his Of lhat legidma!e prOplion, as are lceled by an oven or coven ""mHlIJ dallJltJ (docrol$. architC'C(S, en�in.«n elc) always have somelhins else in common beyond t osc (It �I sc�'ntenance o. increase of (he capital acquire
Or 'de-qual ification' ). To ,his effect of occup3tional in which one has 10 di inguish the speKS, (he s�re lime II ,lIows, and ; II (or� of Ihe hor;�onral or venical rdilions II encour:lgcs al dUring work Of .In fCSl penoos---or oUlside. This effeCi no doubl explains numlxr of dlffel'(nccs Ixtween office wOlkers (leds �
.
,,
__
�
'
O
III
':'�:��;:: �
a cbss) [he (free! of the stt ofvariabJes (an uror which is the conscious or unconscious tendency to substitute gener�c e.g., those: linked to sex or age, for sptcific alienations, linked Economic and social condition,
dcSfCCS ;"
possessed
, dPrort'; sunbid\O
� '�
:
By! this is nOI all On Ihe one hand, agents arc not completdy defined by (he properlics they pos scs! 11 1 gIven lime, whose condilions of acquisition persist in the hab (Ihe hysteresis effcel); and on the Olher hand, the relationShip r"'etn Initial capinl and present capilal, or, 10 put il anOlher way. be I"'etn Ihe inilial and present positions in social space, is a Slalistinl rela· :,onShl� of very variable imensilY. Although they are always perpetualed � r �e dIspositions consliluling the habitus, the conditions of acquisition o I leS and occupying the same social position at a given time Cparatcd by rheir origin performs an operation analogous 10 oroi· so... Zo\l Clo\SS O\NO C�o\SS OF TRo\JECTQRtES
�us
e � /
nary perception which, wirhin a gr?up, idenrjfi� rhe parven�s an d or bnnng d&lasses by picking up rhe subtle IndiCes of betr::ly rhe efl"«! of condirions of existence diffe�nt or, which amounlS 10 rhe same rhing, a social {r;ljecrory the modal trajectory for {he group in Cjuesrion. Individuals do no! move about in social space in a nndoID I' bco.use rhey an: subject to {he fOfCes which strunure this . through rhe objcnivt mechanisms of diminalion and '� l' pudy because they resisl rhe forces of the field with th�ir : {hal is. Iheir properties, which may exist in embodied form, as lions, or in objectified form, in goods, qualifications tIC- To a i umc of inhcrirtd capital chen: corresponds a band of mon: probabk trajcctories leading to more or � cquivall"nt po$itions (he fltld fll 'lNjIOSJibin objecrively offered 10 a given agent), and from one rfllj«lory 10 another often depends on coJlecri\'e aClors crises etc.--( junIOr execul!ves and the cr.r.flsmen or shopkeepers. vary accord �«'n Ihe :activity or asset in qucstion. This dfect secms 10 support the InS it is seen thaI rhele is , !CIa. critique of the social classes unril . . . ,e 1 2!1�1 tic h f h ese t 0 nature e t actlvlUCS n or assetS, ,or example. betwee .onship :�,rc.goin.g or pos.sess,on of a colour TV, and Ihe strucrun: of each
t\
. · ': , ·I: "p NC":: �� ,, �C -
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
the structure of total a$Se(5-1nd nOt only, Once OtIC takes account o( :always b«n done implicitly, of the dominanl kind in a given :IS has 'birth', 'forrune' or ·/alents·. as the nineteenth century PUt it J{tuctun:, one has the means of making more precise divisions and alw o( observing tMe specific cifeCts of the StruCfttn: of distribution bcrwccn Ihe differenr kinds of capital. This may, for example, be symmetrical (as in the case o( the professions. which combine very high income with very high cultur.r.1 capital) or asymmetrical (in the cue of higher'C' r:Inking principlesentisonm05t,hen".ly lCie in the c� of tC'lChel'$' il whose: whole upbringing inclines comp them 10 ,denlify all success w;th Slt(cns.) 1
1
po
1
by
''''
prt
The �me chiaSlic structure is found at the level of Ihe middk wh�re volume of cultural upital again decl;nes, while';�' :�: i� �� inc�:un. one moves from primary teachefS to sma ll : i commercial employefS. wilh junior e�eculives, lechnicians and workers in an int�rm ediJle position. homologous 10 Ih�t of and e��cutives at Ihe higher ;'rliSlic craftsmen and (;lrn their living from induslI�vd. lial and commercial profits , and a.s
from ,hem by small businessmen, are sel apartdoser 10 othet Ihe .new 10 high cultural capital. which brings them y e th �f t'oa;Vi
an i S S ' S S S s •• s s s s s · S • S • • • " S · s ' , S , s s ' , S , ' S
tion wlttegies. The reconversion of capit�[ held in onc form to anolher.
mOil: accessible, more profitable or more legitimate form tends to induce
I tr:lnsfonnlllon of asse:t structure. These: rt.:onversions correspond to movements in
�
social space which has nOlhinS in common with the unreal and yet naively rcalisric space of JO.c'Illcd '5OCial mobility' studies. The ume positivistic naiv"y which
� 'upward mobility' in the
morphological Il":I.nsformations of different
cl1S:ic:s or fractions is also unaware that the reproduction of the social cture may, in cenain conditions" demand very littlc 'occupational he· :'ty'· This is tRlC whenever agents can only maintain their poSitiOn in he a � '7' J StRIcture by means of a shift into a new condition (e.g., the ft m ' rom small landowner to junior civil se:rvant. 0' from small CI":I.(tS ofl!.ce worker or commercial employee). SOctal sfY,lcc, being structured in tWO dimensions (overall capital vol and ���\ dominant/dominated capital), allows ("'0 types of movc· w 'ch tl":l.ditio nal mobility studies confuse:, al(hough they are in no . d�UIValcn( and are unequally probable: vcrtical movements, upwards Or flOrn :�wards, in the same verrica[ sector, that is, in (he same field (e.g., �lflil1 �lteacher to professor. or from small businessman to big busi· ...., ..... ) . :lnd tl":l.nsversc movemcnts, from one field to another, which "'- C Ur . L _ horizontally ( a schoolteacher, or his son, becomes a "nil[ shopt"oo::, ceper ) or betw«n different levels (a shopkeeper, or his son.
�o
"3 y
i"dusuialis.), Vertical movemems, the most only requIre an increase i n t� volume of the type of capi'lIl nlln. in the IsseI srructure, and Iherefore a moYemem in the Ihe distribution of total capital ....hich rak($; .he form of a llIithin a fidd (business field, a�mic field, admi n srntiye ' ;;.'� bo:comes lin
i
:
fidd ere_)_ TflInsyersc movements enrail a shift into another �onvefSion of one type of capit l into another or Of:"; " :":, ; anolhe. sub-type (e,g" from landowning to industrial ;i:,;; , )
a
economics) and therefore a IflInsformation asset which pro.«[s overa l capi[al volume and mainrains posI.ion in tical dimension.
er:l.tu.e to
l
The of enrering a gi"en fn([ion of [he dominanr dass other dm is, :IS ....e have $ttn, in inyerse fll.io '0 [hc position of [hal tion in the hienrch� of ccollOmic capital. (The onl� exccp.ion is 'libeflll professions', ....hich tend to transmit bolh economic an: capiul and have the higheu fllte of endogenous rccrulfment.) major side....a� movcmems within the eli" (indumialists' sons secondary or higher«iucation tnchcf'S" or vice versa) arc eK.rcmdy Thus, n 1970, the probability of i>«oming an industrial or plo�cr W:lS 1.9 percelll for a profcssor'11Of1, lind Ihe probabi lit� ' I U ing a tcacher W:lS 0.8 percenr for an commercial enrrcpreneur's son. The 't shopke«oming 1 pri a ry teacher ....as 2.4 percen t ' for 1 �mlll son (C.S, II,
probabili.y
i::::� ��:�:;�,;;
i
m
m
The tC'(cm chan� in 1I)e tionsh ip Ixtwe
the
a
i have
rhe
a
�
IlIho previously made little use of the school s� a ificnions, the eifC'(t is 10 force the ler the race for academic qu l fC1T' C11 whose reproduction was mainly or exclus vely achieved through �:ion !O step up Iheir investmentS so as 10 maintain the relative scar· qualifications and, consequentl , rheir position in the class � of (heir (;�crure. Academic qualifications and the school system which awards :t.rm thuS becomc one of the key stakes in an interclass competition "'hich gc-netales a general and continuous growth in the demand for eI (� (( ,s Ih( n'I:I{i�( sf�bilily of fh( 'Iiber:ll profasions', ... hose deliber·
,,>(f.
""Ie kl'u
:n
of _/l","/IS da/lJIIJ has pn'�enrl"d numC1'ic�1 8ro...,h and l l,t pO ICYiotL �nd hdped '0 m�inrlin scarcity v�lu(. ... rq>roduCiion !trllt(giL"$ which underlie the'$( morphological '(he impornnce of $aluies in fhe income pardy ,w,gdr3di tionally 'sclf.employl"d' categorics and pudy in rhe diversified ' of senior execu,i�es, who tend to hold ,heir upi. investments of s d a%' :;,h (Conomic and (ultunl form, employers, who mainly " I;rconomic capitaL Salaries and pensions, as a proportion of employers' hO()ll>tS. rise from 12.9 percent in 19)6 ,0 16.4 percent in 196): in 197), )'"
f seen 1t"" n,zJn:((
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coCC$S seems IQ
tM
in ,he increased the
unlike Ihe
,nc
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dassific.l.lions. they make up 19.2 percent of the income of cnfls pen:enl of the incom( of industrialists and small shopkIXpers and 31.8 enlf�pn'neurs. (By conlraSt, among farmers, Ihe proportion �(ommef('Lal much the »m(: 23.8 percent in 19)6, B,' percent in 196) and , percenl In 197). ) In 197\ the proportion of income deri�ed from in· slOcb a d sham is much higher among pri. � Imtnr p lic.sect r SCIlLO' cxcculiv('J (�.9 p ccn! and 2.7 p
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exn1(t some of the
of industrial and commercial firms in the form of salaries, which
In' a more discrcel�nd no doubt more reliable-mod!'of appropriation profits
Ihan 'unearned' inveslment income. Thus. between 19�4 and 1915 the proporrion of induslrial and commercial entrepreneurs fell sharply, chere was sllong rise in Ihe proportion of saJary.arners,
"'hcfC:!s
a very
...ho owed their posilion ro cheir academic qua1ificat;on�xccut;ves. en· gUlttl'$. lCachers lnd intellectuals (ahhough, 11 1('151 in Ihe case of Vlt�·�tor execulives. a significant proporlion of total income may be dc"ved from shaICS, as table 13 indicales). Similarly of . 1111ny small commercial or craft firms COnceals Ihe reconversion work
pri. Ihe disappearance
... perform. wilh varying degrees of success, in a(· (0d 1ncc with th� demands of their particular Situalion, and which reo ;t s in 1 Innsform1lion of the relalive weight of the different franions o t middle elasses (SC'C table 14). Here. roo, the decrease in Ihe lOn of small shopkeepen, craftsmen, and farmers has bttn accompa· ::U:: ' b an increase in Iht proportion of primary,school rnchcrs, h . r ttcI' nlClans. and th� personnel of the medical and social services. ullhermore. the relative morphological stabiliry of an occupuional �ay .conceal a transformation of ils Sllucture resulting from the . r p < , •
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t () of incrc:lSCd housc:hold consumption, conceals a uf>'oersp rlIy wailS(' S of this occupation. The SI:l.gnadon or decline of (151 � ht struCTure c r 'hJ/1gc stOres, fX1llkululy hud hil by supermarket competition, and ¢',JI clothing stores has al�osl �n b70lan� by � growt� in r� re'�iI. dornesflc �UlpmCn! (mcludmg fumlnnc, mlcnor ( ulomobil� ,�g 0 � :lJld SO on) and especially SpoHS, lrisun: and cuhur:al goods f'1.fln8 . deCO etc.) and pharmaccuuols. it may be assumed thaI, even ds recor � . S,food retailing, thc figures lend to conceal changes that have led (0 (�.,! . h,n e reddinition of ,he occupation: the dosing-down of small pr08ressiv J stofCS and rural bakeries may coexist with the oJXning of shops die! foods 'natural' regional produClS and health foods, or ofbaksd'"8 . . '. spec,ahzll"lg I n 0Id-styIe bmid. cn changes in the nature of retail firms-which are rebtw to same JXriod, in the structure of household consump(h1ngts. ovcr the n rhc sdves relarw to the growth in incomes and above all (0 the in cultural capilal fCSulting from the upward shift of the Strucof niucltional opportunit�re dialectically linked (0 a rise in the
,� !eS;s ml11
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cultural capital of their owners or managers. Everything suggestS that the 'craftsman' category hu undergone chanS" very similar to the 'shopkeeper' cuegory, with the decline of the mosl exposed str:m of traditional craftsmanShip bring offset by the boom In luxury and 'aesrhetic' crafts, which require economic assets but also cultural Glpital. This would explain why the fall in the volume of these middle-cbss caregories is accompanied by a rise in cultural capital as measured by educarional leveL Craftsmen and tradesmen specializing in lu�ury, cultural or artisric lIems, man gers of fashion 'bouriqucs', rerailcrs of 'famous maker' a tr:a�rs in exotic garmelllS and jewels or rustic obicc,$, f«ord Ius, antique dalers, illlerior decorators, dc:signcrs, photographers, resurs, managers of trendy 'bistros', Proven",l 'potters'. aVant-gaMe lIers, all ,hose vendors of cuhural goods and services seeking to ptoIong ,h e fusion of leisure �nd work, militancy and dilettantism, that cha r (ell zes ,he s,udent life-style, use ,heir ambiguous occupations, in "h l succ rhe Cl IC$ ess depends a, least as much on the subtly casual distinction of rllni man as on the nature and quality of his waTCS, as a way of obhe r(nee f ; bcs, return on a culcural capital in whkh ,echnical comJXess lmporran, than familiarity wirh ,he culture of rhe dominant 112$$ lall5!: .2 mastery of the signs and emblems of distinction and taste. Beth tyJX of culture.intensive craftsmanship and commerce trl'lblts IS , ,o .bc drawn from ,he cultural heritage transmiltw dift!:lly e f am,]y, i, is pm:lisposcd ro serve as a rdugc for those sons lnd o:4ug� h()I'I�J SYS t rs of ,he dominant class who arc eliminued by the wucale
Z;bn, � � �
a�d
�cw b:� �
Among the (!Teets of the infbrion of dons and their associatr:ci devaluation, undoubtedly the most uc: (he: 5(t of sll1Itcgia whereby the holden of devalued have sought to maintain thdr inherited positions or to qualifications the Inl equivakm of ....hat they gUlnmeed Slatt of the rtbtionship between diplomas and jobs. It is clear that what an :aodc:mic qualification guarantees is than, and different from, the right to occupy a position lmd 11 to perform the corresponding job. In this respect the diploma is more like a palcnt of nobility (/;1" tit nlJblmt) than the properly (Ii'" 'qroprilli) which strictly technical definitions m,,,, So one nn well understand that the victims of devaluation dined perceive and acknowledge the devaluing of quali' ,',' ,', "' ;' ;,; ; which they are closely identified, both objectively (Ihey �, impomnt pm o( these people's sodal identity) and subjectively. concern 10 presc:rve sel(-estttm, which encoul1lges allachment nominal value of '1ualifications and jobs, would nOI be ,"f" '� maintain a mispcrccption of this devaluation, if there were not complidty from objective mechanisms. The mOSI importanl of first, thc hysteresis of habitus, which causes previously 'P1P" �,;", ; gories o( perception and appreciation to be applied to a qualification market; and, second, the exislence of relali"ely markets in which the value of '1ualifications declines at a � The hystercsis effect is proporlionatcly greater for agents who remOte from the educational system and who are poody or oof, ". informed aboul Ihe muket in educational qualifiGlions. One mOSI valuable sons of information constiluting inherited is practiGl or theoretical knowledge of Ihe Auctualions of Ihe academic qualifications, the sense of invCSlment the best «tum on inheriled cultul1l1 capital in the schola�lIic on scholaslie Gpital in the labour muket, (or example, by righl moment 10 pull OUt of devalued disciplines and cafCCrs switch into those: with a futurc, I1Ilher than clinging to Ihe values which secured the highest profits in an earlier Slale of the By contrast, the hysteresis effecl mC"lns Ihat Ihe hOld' '" 'f . I in their own n � , I plomas become, in a sense, ' , rhey bestOW by a typical effect of alloMxia ' i is nOI j on their devalued i explains how those I informed about the diploma market, long been able to recognile a decline in real wages behind Ihe nance of nominal wages, can nonetheless continue to acCepl paper certificates which Ihey receive in payment for . ing (despite the fact Ihal Ihey are the firsl victims tion, because of lheir lack of social capilal). " � ,,f q"';.� This allachmcnt to an anachroniSlic idea of the " TIME TO UNDERSTAND
�;���
lairt)
(0
; ;
'�::::
d� :::: ��;��
in Ihe uistence of markels in which diplomas can bI plays a pan pe.:lOU d , al leasl) escape devaluation. The value objectively and sub. y ('f'I'a � laced on an academic qualificalion is in fact defined only by Ihe ) Ihe social uses thai Gn be made of it. Thus Ihe evaluation of lY ooh l by lhe clOSCSI peer groups, such :as relativcs. neighbours, fellow .:Ilplortl (one·s ·d:ass' or 'y(;lr') and coll(;lgucs, Gn play an importanl n' u sl Jc l$king Ihe effe
volved in induSlfial or political struggle find hard to understand, something mon: [han ....orking conditions is at stake. These
pie, whose social identity and self.image have been undermined cial system and an educational syStem that have fobbed them ....orthless paper, can find no other ....ay of restoring their personal (ial integrity than by a lo[al refusal. It is as if they felt that ....hal stake is no longer jusl penonal failure, 15 the educational system
ages them to believe, but rather the ....hole logic of the academic i lion. The structuul de.skilling of a ....hole generation, ....ho are
____
gc-t less out of [heir qualifications than [he previous gc-neu!ion have obtained, engc-nders a $Or( of collec[ive disillusionment: a gc-ner:r.tion, finding il hu been taken for a ride. is inclined to all inslitutions the mixture of revoh and resentment it feels
educational system. This anti·institutional CUt of mind strength from ideological and scientific critiques) poims rowards nunciation of the tuit assumptions of the social order. a pUClical
; ;.i,::"
sion of doxic adherence to the prittS it offers and the values " ', and a ....ithholding of the investmems ....hich an: a necessary c< its funClioning. So it is understandable that, not only ....ithin families but
-;-
cltional institutions and political or union organizarions and .
"_
Disenchanted 'Finl I did markel I'CSC)rdl s...rveys. had a friend in L ",ho "':IS i Ihal. I BOI a lisl of all Inc I'CSC)rch Paris. Mler t"'O months phoning and finally I gol something. se�enl lJler. they hadn't gol lo...ch ",ilh me. They OIICrcn', doing any m � ...rvcys. I "':as e l lk.! 10 un· employment benefit, a lho...�nd fnncs a month. We lived on Ihal fol 5CVCfl monlhs, lhen "'e did gnpc-picking. Then [ went back to for seven monlhs, I q...it; t e working fftt-lance. lesbians and place ....:as f... gave 0...1 Ihe ....olk 10 fa· so [ gol 01,11. Any....ay, ....e och ....olk a turns. In sort sociely, ....ork isn't Ihe life. ..... if Ihings ....ere 1 ... Ihe ....ay Ihey are r mighl ....ant 10 ....olk ho...rs a baeca1a...,,:al and a day' (F., fe.... an Am fac...1ry; fa· Iher: pri�Jle
nlO
I
firms in
",riting, Then. still
months in
ni
o s
t"'O
months'
s...rvcys
Then
ll of
vo...rites, of thing in n
bit in No
ag
;; JdSk : n
,n
sil
who bring Iheir ami·institutional s.ance ...ilh ,hem a...todidaclS. the 11I$IIIUlion, Ihe duh of .g;en stuff)' rigour of the older staR' and the casual style of the younger workers, whkh is doubtlcss per· ceived as sloppincss, especially when it indudes long hair and a beard (the traditional emblems of Ihe b0hemian utist or intellcctual), cx· pr� ?,lhcr more than a simple gencn!1on gap.
to c:ncour.agc the: emdon of a brge "'0;, J positions, produced by redefining old positions or _;'&!II�gtoi ing new ones, and designed to save uno5e traditionally e::ntrusr 10 mcn (diploma!$, i amch6 an 50 (0) ofren drawn from rhose: fractions of lhe:: i (the:: arislocracy and rn.: old bourgeoisie) who "<ere:: richcst in social and in ,he socializing t«hniqucs nsc:nl al 10 ,he malnte::nance:: of d ,' " '" . lal llIc new mJuire::menrs have led rO lhe:: �r�nce:: of a ....hole �ma "'("panons and '0 rhc cstabllshmcnt of a icsiTimate marke::r Ical propcmn. llIc fact thu (e::rta;n worJl(n derive ",cupationa "',',
ed
d
k
i
c
l
� J�
ed
ge
g mmed
n
years of secondary' schooling, Ihrough h,dden forms of eliminalion as repe:ue
than under Ihe old system, which was ch.ara�[erharsh manner 1& orseless rigour of the natIonal compelltlve exammatton. 1;£1 J Ih rem e new system fobs off a good number of tiS users with Ihat [he perce�tions lhat are en ualiflCa[ions, playing on [he faulty �y [he anarchic profuston of courses and diplomas whICh are J
JrcJ b)'
;1 IS ::;;
fx,� [hc.k�c�
c
�� �
:«p
•
fan
al" tn [he pas[) often offering (!Ike Ihe occupallons of 'anis!" or -inlell«lU no� of Ihe malerial or symbolIC cfl[cria--promo[ion, benefi,s, inCle· !Mills-whereby social nme, and also social hierarchi", arc eKpcrienccd and musurcd. ,hey leave aspira�ions considerable room for manoeuvre.
They �hus make i[ possible to avoid the sudden. final disinves�mem
Imposed by
occupations thaI arc clearly ddimi[ed and defmed from rc
pr1Vlle� hilherto reservtd (or artisrs and imdlcctuals. makcs i, possible
(r,,"ment [0 r(lircment. "!lIe indelerminate fUlure which [hey offer, a
10 ttnt Ihe presem as a SOrt of emllcssly renewed provisional S[)[U$ and to n:gard one's 's[alion' as an accidental detour, like Ihe paimer who
.·orks In ad"erusing but conltnucs to cons"kr himself a 'nut' aliisl and ;: 'SIS tha[ Ihis mercenary Ir;I,Je IS only a [empo�ry expedient Ih)t WIll de: :lb!lldoned as 500n as he has PU[ hy enough money [0 be ,"depcn. ; r. orkThese ambiguous OC(up:oltons exemp[ rheir praCtilioners from t.
.... of disinvcs[menl and 'einv"lmenl thaI is implie
'
'
,
nized. which arc aimed at conse:rvint:_ transform in,!: or t to conserve.
"ersion strategies arc nothing other than an aspect of the perma·
n p.(,(o , n s and I'ClIctions whereby tach group suives 10 mai n tai n or (!I'llt ae: o s l osition in the soc:�al sl�((ure, or. more prc
du Bois de Boulogne or Irnple, the Jockey Club. the Cercle (fo"-r '�Ccrcle), . ,he morc this is tile case u rality social .of �he c�iTeria of sekcrion (an only come from ]..t f'I��:c. lhe is, from an obI'Xuficarlon of what IS Il:fuscd in advance as � ,hit vulgar, the group is able to persuade itself thaI ;t$ own o
�fr;:
'
164 / 'fht /:.co'lomy oj l'racllus
,,-. �•.,�.
mem of the promis«l goods but implies l((tpl�nce of a future merdy the (Ominultion of the past, or the 'imiluion'-m
;;
;�.:
.....,. .
I-bbd... t
$UUClurinc ...
.��
• JTSIo",
""=,,," """"� ... "".m of
'pp'«.."on
... .') (",
....,""" ... of «;I"II(C 1
•
It .�' ... l
c,e.
of cWsirKd and dossify,.., p'KtIC", i. • . , distinct;" lie'" f' ... ..·)
172 / Tht Elonomy 0/ Pr411iltJ
differences. differcmial positions, i.e.• by everything which it from what It is not and especially from everything i t I'" �i�1 demit! is efinw an.d assc:rt�d th:�ugh diffcrence. I ffiClII$ . . InevItably JIlswbed wlfhlll the dlsposmons of thc habitus is the structure of the system of conditions. as it presc
observer who divide!! a population imo elana performs an which has ils equivaknl in social practice. If he is nor aware likely 10 prescnt a more or los modifiro form of a i scienlinc classincalion (a number of 'typologies' are precisely this). tion, he has no chance of bringing 0 the level of conS(iousnas the 1 status of his clmifying operadons which, like native knowledge, ,;, conncctions and comparisons and which. even ....hen they seem to the realm of social ph)1ics. in faC! produce and interpret SignifYing tiOlls. in shorr, to lhe order of the
;;;;'
While it mUSt be rC1SSCffed. againsr all forms of , nary e�perience of rhe social world is a cognition. ir is e ..0
I"- rtl '7' rtl IF\ OO OO C\ '..
65.2
raffinee
;:, "
.... .
loman ro be: natural
m 8
�
Xi auld rather look: natural
N a -k
3
se make-up to look Junger a lose weight, uses: diet sporr, exercise
4.6 71 . 7
Approves of plastic sur-
3.0 66. 1
5 0.0
5 0.0
56.4
52.0
5 1 .3
53.4
9.8
1 6. 9
36.6
43.2
23.2
32.0
1 2.0
29.6
45.0
54. 7
30. 1
44.8
or rarely ' Spends more than half
48.9
35.6
2 1 .2
1 7. 3
35.1
22.9
an hour on grooming
12.3
45.6
48.9
45.3
42. 1
48.2
4.3
1 5.9
25.9
27.8
2 1 .0
22. 1
6.5
8. 1
1 6.9
20.8
9.8
1 3.5
1 5.7
28. 1
gery to look younger Bath or shower at least once a day Puts on make-up every day Puts on make-up never
Uses make-up to feel good Hairdresser at least once a forrnight
34.8
with soap
35.4
2 0. 1
25.7
with make-up remover ete. Source: C.S. XLIV
47.8
59.4
( 1976 ) .
a. I talic figu res indicate the strongest tendency or tendencies in each row.
86.0
91.4
�
"" .... . ....
1:::
Cleanses face every ight:
� '"
67.5
78.8
.. ;:,
�
S'" � ..
�
� r--
� c:.., � � � N a v,
206
/ The Economy 0/ Practices
logic why working-class women, who are less likely to have a job and m uch less likely to enter one of the occupations which most strictly de mand conformity to the dominant norms of beauty, are less aware than all others of the 'market' value of beauty and much less inclined to invest time and effort, sacrifices and money in cultivating their bodies. It is quite different with the women of the petite bourgeoisie, espe . Cially the new petit� bourgeoisie, in the occupations involving presenta tion and representatIOn, which o ften impose a uniform ( tenue) intended, among other things, to abolish all traces of heterodox taste, and which always demand what is called tenue, in the sense of 'dignity of conduct and correctness of manners', implying, according to the dictionary, 'a re fusal to give way to vulgarity or facility'. ( In the specialized 'charm schools' which train hostesses, the working-class girls who select them selves on the basis of 'natural' beauty undergo a radical transformation in their way of walking, sitting, laughing, smiling, talking, dressing, mak109-Up etc. ) Women of the petite bourgeoisie who have sufficient in ter ests in the market ! n wh !ch physical properties can function as capital to recognIze the do � 1Oan � Image of the body unconditionally without pos sessmg, at least 10 t�elr own eyes ( and no doubt objectively ) enough . body capital to obtam the h ighest profits, are, here too, at the site of greatest tension. Th � self-assurance given by the certain knowledge of one's own value, espeCially that of one's body or speech, is in fact very closely linked to the position occupied in social space ( and also, of course, to trajectory ) . . Th us, the proportlO � o f women who consider themselves below average 10 beauty, or who thm� they look older than they are, falls very rapidly as one moves up the �oClal hierarchy. Similarly, the ratings . women give themselves for the different parts of their bodies tend to rise with social position, and this despite the fact that the implicit demands rise too. It is not surprising that peti t-bourgeois women-who are almost as dissatis fied with their bodies as working-class women ( they are the ones who most often wish they looked different and who are most discontented with various parts of their bodies ) , while being more aware of the use fulness of beauty and more often recognizing the dominant ideal of physical excellence--devote such great investments, of self-denial and especially of time, to improving their appearance and are such uncon ditional believers in all forms of cosmetic voluntarism ( e.g. , plastic surgery ) . As for the women of the dominant class, they derive a double assur ance from their bodies. Believing, like petit-bourgeois women, in the value of beauty and the value of the effort to be beautiful, and so associat ing aesthetic value and moral value, they feel superior both in the intrin SIC, natural beauty of their bodies and in the art of self-embellishment and everything they call tenue, a moral and aesthetic virtue which defines 'nature' negatively as sloppiness. Beauty can thus be simultaneously a gift \
The Habitus and the Space 0/ Life-Styles /
207
of nature and a conquest of merit, as much opposed to the abdications of . vulgarity as to ugliness. Thus, the experience par excellence of the 'alienated body', embarrass meneE, and the opposite experience, ease, are clearly unequally probable for members of the petite bourgeoisie and the bourgeoisie, who grant the same recognition to the same representation of the legitimate body and legitimate deportment, but are unequally able to achieve it. The chances of experiencing one's own body as a vessel of grace, a continuous miracle, are that much greater when bodily capacity is commensurate with recog nition; and, conversely, the probability of experiencing the body with unease, embarrassment, timidity grows with the disparity between the ideal body and the real body, the dream body and the 'looking-glass self' reflected in the reactions of others ( the same laws are also true of speech ) . The mere fact that the most sought-after bodily properties ( slimness, beauty ( etc . ) a.re not randomly distributed among the classes ( or example, the pro than the modal greater is ent measurem waist whose portion of women waist rises sharply as one moves down the social hierarchy ) is sufficient to exclude the possibility of treating the relationshi p which agents have with the social representa tion of their own body as a generic alienation , constitu tive of the 'body for others'. The 'alienated body' described by Same is a generic body, as is the 'alienation ' which befalls each body when it is per ceived and named, and therefore objectified by the gaze and the discourse of others.33 The phenomen ologists' 'body-for-o thers' is doubly a social product: it derives its distinctive properties from its social conditions of production ; and the social gaze is not a universal, abstract, objectifyin g power, like the Sartrian gaze, but a social power, whose efficacy is always pardy due to the fact that the receiver recognizes the categories of perception and apprecia tion it applies to him or her.
Although it is not a petit-bourgeois monopoly, the petit-bourgeois ex perience of the world starts out fro m timidity, the embarrassment of someone who is uneasy in his body and his language and who, instead of being 'as one body with them', observes them from outside, through other people's eyes, watching, checking, correcting himself, and who, by his desperate attempts to reappropriate an alienated being-for-others, ex poses himself to appropriation, giving himself away as much by hyper correction as by clumsiness. The timidity which, despite itself, realizes the objectified body, which lets itself be trapped in the destiny proposed by collective perception and statement ( n icknames etc. ) , is betrayed by a body that is subject to the representation of others even in its passive, unconscious reactions ( one feels oneself bl ushing ) . By contrast, ease, a sort of indifference to the objectifying gaze of others which neu tralizes its powers, presupposes the self-assurance which comes from the certainty of
208
/ The Economy of Practices
The Habitus and the Space of Life-Styles /
being able to objectify that objectification, appropriate that appropria tion, of being capable of imposing the norms of apperception of one's own body, in short, of commanding all the powers which, even when they reside in the body and apparently borrow its most specific weapons, such as 'presence' or charm, are essentially irreducible to it. This is the real meaning of the findings of the experiment by W. D. Dannenmaier and F. J. Thumin, in which the subjects, when asked to assess the height of familiar persons from memory, tended to overestimate most the height of those who had most authority or prestige in their eyes.3 \. t would seem that the logic whereby the 'great' are perceived as physically greater than they are applies very generally, and that authority of what ever sort contains a power of seduction which it would be naive to re duce to the effect of self-in terested servility. That is why political con testation has always made use of caricature, a distortion of the bodily image intended to break the charm and hold ,:!p to ridicule one of the _ principles of the effect of authority i mposition. '\ Charm and charisma in fact designate the power, which certain people have, to impose their own self-image as the objective and collective image of their body and being; to persuade others, as in love or faith, to abdicate their generic power of objectification and delegate it to the per son who should be its object, who thereby becomes an absolute subject, without an exterior ( being his own Other), fully j ustified in existing, le gitimated. The charismatic leader manages to be for the group what he is for himself, instead of being for himself, like those dominated in the sym bolic struggle, what he is for others. He 'makes' the opinion which makes him; he constitutes himself as an absolute by a manipulation of symbolic power which is constitutive of h is power since it enables him to produce and i mpose h is own objectification.
t
The Universes of Stylistic Possibles
Th us, the spaces defined by preferences in food, clothing or cosmetics are organized according to the same fundamental structure, that of the social space determined by volume and composition of capital. Fully to con struct the space of life-styles within which cultural practices are defined, one would first have to establish, for each class and class fraction, that is, for each of the configurations of capital, the generative formula of the habitus which retranslates the necessities and facilities characteristic of that class of ( relatively) homogeneous conditions of existence into a par ticular life-style. One would then have to determine how the dispositions of the habitus are specified, for each of the major areas of practice, by im plementing one of the stylistic possibles offered by each field ( the field of sport, or music, or food, decoration, politics, language etc. ) . By superim posing these homologous spaces one would obtain a rigorous representa tion of the space of life-styles, making it possible to characterize each of
209
the distinctive features ( e.g., wearing a cap or playing the piano) in the two respects in which it is objectively defined, that is, on the one hand by reference to the set of features constituting the area in question ( e.g., the system of hairstyles ) , and on the other hand by reference to the set of features constituting a particular life-style ( e.g., the working-class life style ) , within which its social significance is determined. For example, the universe of sporting activities and entertainments presents itself to each new entrant as a set of ready-made choices, objec tively instituted possibles, traditions, rules, values, equipment, symbols, which receive their social significance fro m the system they constitute and which derive a proportion of their properties, at each moment, from history. A sport such as rugby presents an initial ambiguity. In England, at least, it is still played in the elite 'public schools', whereas in France it has become the characteristic sport of the working and middle classes of the regions south of the Loire ( while preserving some 'academic' bastions such as the Racing Club or the Paris Universite Club ) This ambiguity can only be un derstood if one bears in mind the history of the process which, as in the 'elite schools' of nineteenth-century England, leads to the transmutation of popular games into elite sports, associated with an aristocratic ethic and world view ( ,fair play', 'will to win' etc . ) , entailing a radical change in meaning and function entirely analogous to what happens to popular dances when they enter the complex forms of 'serious' music; and the less well-known history of the p rocess of popularization, akin to the diffusion of classical or 'folk' music on LPs, which, in a second phase, transforms elite sport into mass sport, a spectacle as much as a practice. .
The distributional properties which are conferred on the different practices when they are evaluated by agents possessing a practical knowl edge of their distribu tion among agents who are themselves distributed into ranked classes, or, in other words, of the probability, for the different classes, of practising them, do indeed owe much to past patterns of dis tribution, because of the effects of hysteresis. The 'aristocratic' image of sportS like tennis, riding or golf can persist beyond a-relative-transfor mation of the material conditions of access, whereas pitanque (a form of bowls ) , doubly stigmatized by its popular and southern origins and con nections, has a distributional significance very similar to that of Ricard or other strong drinks and all the cheap, strong foods which are supposed to give strength. But distributional properties are not the only ones conferred on goods by the agents' perception of them . Because agents apprehend objects through the schemes of perception and appreciation of their habitus, it would be naive to suppose that all practitioners of the same sport ( or any other practice) confer the same meaning on thei r practice or even,
1 Ix "lW"/J ,.,'"
sho n
�h
�
'] "'11$ no ,.,nkling (or my age ....hen
I Started, but all the same ]"'e put � inches on my shoulders, } inches on my chesr and I VI inches on my ums, and all th)t in juSt three months. It's kyond my ....ildest hopes. My muscles ;Ire several inches biMer and my strength has doubled, ] feel like a new man. My parents and friends used to make fun of me, but no"" my father getS me ro take off my shin and sho.... visitors ....hu I've achieved. thanks ro you.' Prospectus xlliptllrr HII",,,illt
�nd,. �un:{c. P�d �
l
�
Cwy,
(Of
sporting praClicc is linked to $0 many variables-how long 'go, and ho...., the sport was learnt, how orten it is pl.yed, the socially q"�lifd. conditions (place, time, (acilities, «[uipment), ho.... it is played {]>OIition in • tnm, Style el(,)-that most of the .vailable sntisric.1 dan "'" �ry difficult ro interpret. Thi, is especially (rue of highly dispersed pn art pl1lc!ising rhe same practice. II can easily I sp t "flc f...n thaC the different cJ� do not agree on rhe profits eXp«ted bC ft, be thq> sp«ific physical profits, such as effects on the cxlernal elegance or visible muscl�, and on the internal body, (roI'i e slimness, th or �laxation; or elltrinsic profits, such as the social �lation· like spOrt may facilicale, or possible economic and social advantagc1. a j/I!pS hOugh there are CUC$ in which the dominant function of the prac· t i pfllctically never emitled to �nably clearly design ated, onc s t"e ISc that rhe different d� Cllpect che same rhing from Ihc same For examp e, gymnastics may k asked-this is the popular de· c isfied by body·building-to produce a strong body, �fing the l11an sa h 1l signs of its strengt , or a healthy body-this is the bourgeois de elf(d satisfied by 'keep-fit' ellercises Of 'slimnastics'--or. with (he 'new I11lfl tics', a 'likmed' body-this is the demand chll1lCleristic of Jf:fI mcn in the new ffllctions of the bourgeoisie and petite boufgcoisie," merhodical analysis of the variations in the function and meaning confrrred on the different sporting activities will enable one to escape from absrnct, (ormal 'typologies' based ltd Ilctics and enining. a change in (he social fC(ruitment of the players idet audience, gives priolifY to the 'forwlfd game'. ....hich is incteas· '"81y discuiiSCd in mcrlphors of the meanest industrial labour ('lIlIcking In.:,oal·face·) or tn:nch ....arfare (the infantrym�n ....ho 'du[ifully' runs �Iong in.o e!>emy fire).)(;
��
; In ��Iry
::
� :S :U ' �
rok
md a w
ipptars. in ils elementary form-Ihal is, as
E.erything Sttms to indicate (hu lhe concern to cul!ivate [he body Ihe cutl of heahh--often as ....ith an ascetic exal!ltion of 50bricry and controlled diet, in (he classes (junior exC(:utivC'$, the medical .'lCrvices and especially heachers . and particularly among ....omen in these strongly femin· Ilt<j C tegor ies). These cluses. ....ho arc especially anxious about appear· 11\( ' 'nd therefon: about Iheir body·for·others. go in very inrcnsively for 1 tt tllt�� 5 Cs, the ascetic sport pu exceHence. since i( .mounlS 10 a $Ort of I li ( for tnining's sake. We kno.... from social psychology (h,t ....k"is) . f accep tlnce (the very definition of ease) rises .... ith unsclfcon· · the Clpuily (0 e$C'pe fascinadon with a self possesse
�a
�IJ �
ISCOUTk.J•
c
thc fe:lturcs which appeal [0 (he dommant faSfe are combined in �uCh as solf, tcnnis, sailing. riding (or show.jumping). skiing (� . . P"c . ,ally. tts most distinctiv� forms. such :IS crosS-COUntry) or fencing. l�� In exclusi"c placn (private clubs). al the lime one chooses.
Ot.w�th chosen pUlners (featufCS "'hich contrast with the colice, isie whiCh �: �� �' from ilS dccision·making, organizational (in a word. , , ,I; ties. is contained in the opposition between the horse-riding, boxing or flying aristocrats and bourpis of the Belle Epoque mockm skiing, sailing or gliding executive. And JUSt as a history of the sporring praCtices of the dominant . would no doubt shed light on the evolution of its ethical d;'pO';� the bourgeois conception of the human ideal and in panicuJar of re:: � authcmic. is more dearly revealed in Ihc equipment ." , one 0f new properly-rooms of thc advanced lifc-styk-thc FNAC Il'uil' shops), Boubourg, u NOIiIltI ObJtrvaItJl�, holiday
�:
I i
:
offers Ihc serious trekker: parbs, plus-fours, alllhmlir Jacquard in r,al She!land wool, gmllillt pullovers in pllrt nalliral wool,
' (rlippers jackets, English fishermen's pullovers,
U.s,
Army
Swedish lumberjack shins, farigue pants, U,S, work shoes, rangers , dian moccasins in supple leather, Irish work caps, caps, bush hus-not forgcuing rhe whistln, altimeters, guides, Nikons and orhel essential gadgetS w,thour I rhere can no narural return to nature, And how could one fail to recognize
namics of the dream of social wdght1cssnes:5 as the basis of all sporting anivities-fooHrekking, pony.rrekking, cycle·trekking,
bike trekking,
boat.trekking, canoeing,
archery, windsurfing,
'"_�
try skiing, sailing, hang.gliding, microlights etc.-whose common
ture is that rhey all demand a high investment of cuiturlll anivity itsclf. in preparing, maimaining and using Ihe espc
priety and ritual and in unashame
I
and ,.,.>" order
I muke
or (osmelics since casual clothes and long hair-like the
camping·car. or folk and rock, in other ficlds-are challenges to
dard al rributes of bourgeois riruals, classically sryle
Ihe social 'world is perfecrly rdlccle
�
New of ogue (2t2l -;rCiOg Resources phySI'til
�;tIlt
�.pccssion
tkq>ly ,mbued wilh lhe StJC ng of I:Mehe, where she liv�d ", hlS " (of!cn ,car1' l.anza del Vaslo art IS not IUSI 'He, ft of her' �" ut" h ,,'s u has malured ,or a I� e" In her head an.d hcart .., "me r our ,�m "�e 10 if I bt!�g he prcclOus arl, (1m,, u's 50 Ihar lh,s dan(� 25 much as Insplml by Hmdu bJ' mcd'KYlI Chnsmn ,magery,
��
Ix losl.' should �Ol The apploxhes 10 Ihe inner life
J�
m:tdc through Xllvilies Ihrough our ,ho: day's session, and are subS( qutnrl)' pursued in life; indeed, Ihe leireh for Inner unuy ;s lhe cenrrll lheme. Dance has Ihe placc of hon· OUI, ir folk, religious o. creallve be
r'-., dllll1l," I�/T /lDditf
IJ,,-q�gh da�(t
� Or�omcn, dance is above all a way 'R ",-ecs. e Ihis aCIlYuy " It» 10 .waken :I prim ary crOI;' r e,� ve . � n a primary aUI
444/
I tK
1:..01111"') '" /'rar/lm
from the slag.helps and cliffs of the Nord to the Jura and the Alp', nOt forgwing thc Puy.ey were epic muggll."$, with IWO or Ihrec intervab, during which rhe le:ul OUI of brealh would have a quick joint or r'NO. A lypi('1[ Kore would be �2-29,
' fH ,'"","UJ
Age is prelly "uiabk, tOo cllcgoriC$ like kiddi.-s, junio' minors. IO:niors, velerans, "'n ' of eleven or twelve are mosquitOl."$ you ,,,"',
�
�'d;.::.:
,.
Nuurally, the ruks art Ii inlerprtled. Besides, time thert'S no refertt. rule only applies in c' In,elilgence; and Ihe cuhunl
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md newcomers, distinction and pretension, rear·guard and order and movement etc.-are mutually homologous (which [here are numerous invariants) and also homologous to the which structure Ihe licld of (he social classes (be(wttn dominated) lind (he ficld of [he dominant class (betwctn [he fr.Ktion and [he dominate
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Ihe supply side. [he field of production need only follow its own [hat of distincrion, which always leads it 10 be org�nized in ",,",... . with a s(ruClure analogous to Ihlt of Ihe symbolic systems wh'lCh I,I I duces by its funclioning and in ....hich t:Ich clement performs live funnion.
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THE LO(;IC OP HOMOlOGIF.5 Thus. the ca.sc of fashion, which Sttffi to justify a model which loolcs Inc: mOlor of changing styles in Ih� imenlional pursuil of distinction (the ·trickle.down is an almo�1 perfen example of Ihe meeting of tWO spaces and (WO
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10d', on Iho: Olher hand, the logic of [he struggles internal to. [he dominam class which, as we have seen, oppose the dommant ld I\o: � O:minated (!'anions. or, more pr«isel�, rhe establishe
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o�nng to win accep[anee of (hel! subversIve Id�. art Ihe ob�lIve allies' of (he new fracrions and Ihe younger �ne!'allon of the domInant fra(lions of rhe bourgcoisie. for whom (he symbolic Kvolutions of which >'(Stnnemary and (QsrnClic outragn are (he par.tdigm, are the perfcc( vc- hick (or expressing the ambiguity of theil si(ualion as (he 'poor rela· tions' of the temporal powers, tilt rndY'lo-wear 're"olulion' ara$( when the dispositions of a /�. bt.:'U�
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demonsmtion is emirel� disfOrtN In ambiguity by many by .he modd avant.garde author nuances lind academic chosen by Fr:an�oisc Dorin. Vanko (,insofar is " .', 'on be viet is an epigone of Marguerite . '), the assertion thai DUr;ls. a vaguely miliranl, belated is 'an important work', ' 0·... existentialis!. He is parodic in ,he nO[eouncls ontO an odious vinim and calions, underslalements finish� him off. To the extent double negation, nuances, that It rdlcclS the state of bourgeois lions and self.(orrections thar theatre and «veals its systems of de final Clmriliatio Oppo!ilorum, so fence, Lt T�"rnllnl can be regarded Jesuitical 'in fo.m and ,"�" . :IS an imporl"nl IWrk. Few plays let he would say, almost SC(ms to slip so much anxiety about an "ex without saying: 'Lt Icrnal" threat and fflU/'""1t it Wilh have said, SC(ms to me an work, in both form and so much UR((mJciclii fury' (!.ouis Dandrel, Lt M�, n J�nuary This is nO! 10 SlIy it nO( many people's tccth on ed�. I 1973), The ambiguilY which Robert 'pened to be silling next to an Kanter
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more strongly required when fundamental values are involvcd,
r '" the theatre, 1trt1 3 c
vE AffiNITIES This limiting C2SC forccs one 10
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Tlsr� is rhe form par excellence of am'"jali. resentuions and pr:aCfices which are always mo adjusted e the produ(f to Ix [0 [he objective conditions of which they ar with �brx Ihu '[he petit bourgeois cannOI tr:anscend rhe limi mind' (others would have Slid �h� limi[s o( his �ndrgers rhat atf the properties he handles, not only those he classifies and rn�Sures but also rhose he uses to classify and mcasure. arc weapons and
�r'��froinmrh.e struggle belwCt':n the classes, he is inclined �bstrac.t .each Its relations with !he others, not only from the opposItional . n s :t�l> whsch give properties their distillClive value, but also (rom Ihe to
t� ![?ns. of power and of Struggle for power which arc the very basis of
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d st ' nbulions. Like a photograph of a gamc of marbles or poker which the babncc sheet of assetS (marbles or chips) ar a given sra�, the TVey f�lCS a moment in a siruggle in which Ihe a�nu PUI back inlo
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play, ar every momenr, rhe capiral rhey have aC<Juimi in rhe srruggle, which may imply a power over rhe struggle I;·;;;;; . fore over the capital hdd by olhers The Strucrure of elm relations is what one obuins synchronic cross·section to fiK a (more or less steady ) "''' of" , Slruggles amons: the elmes. The relative wength which the ;0. It\o a luy (or those at earlier or lo�r level becomes b:inal and (om, n ap;'araa d is relegated to the order of thc t�ken·(or.granlcd by Ihe nce of new, rarer and more di Slincrive goods; and, oncc again, this es
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mon that the str.l!egies of pretension are 105t in. a�. .s dod nOt 1"' Since th� surest sign of le8itimacy i� self·assurance, bluff"-lf II ,-J!Ice· ways of (first by impfe55ing the blufl"er)-ls. one of the allve auron rel he limits of social condition .by pbymg on ,he . n t oeaI', the symbolic (i.e., of the capaCIty to. make and pt'rcelW: rcp�n. . ott').os) ,n ord�r to impose a self·representation notm:.tIly USOC1Ued wlrh il the acceptance and recogniflon �dition and to win " doO . for · ) er co.. , . , 11,18) 1 ' . · . .WI·�hou� subSC�·b it a legitlm�(�, oble1 .ldcnlllY whteh con· mtS in anticipating 'being' by 's«ming" appropriating the �ppca�nces W :IS to have {he realiry, the nominal so as to have the real, 10 trying to modify the positions in the objective classifications by m�i.fying the rc� =nt1l;on of the ranks in the classdicl!lon or of the prinCIples of classl· fio.tion, Torn by all the contradictiOns between an objectively dominated condition and would.be participation in the dominant values, Ih� pt'llt bourgeois is haunted by the appeafllnce he offers to othc:rs and the ludge ment they mak� of it. He constantly ov.:rshool5 the mark for f�r o.f Ing shorr. betnying his um:crtainly and an�iely about belonglng In hIS anxiety to show or give the impn:ssion that he belongs. e .IS bound 1O � . be s:ccn-both by the working c1:1$SCS, who do not have thiS concero wnh . lhCl! being.fo -others, and by the privileged classes. who, being sure of t ""ha( they are, do not care what they seem---:as the man of appearances. haunted by the look of others and endlessly ()(:cupied wilh being seen in I good light. Being 50 linked to appearance-the one he has to give. not only to do 'hat is. play his role, 10 'make beli�vc', to inspire confidence or Itspcct and prestnr his social character. his 'presentation', as a guarantee \}f the products or services he offers (:1$ is the case with salespeople, busi· epre t sentatives, hostesses �rc.), bUI also to assert �is pretensions all? ll1ands bo , to advanc� his interests and upward asp,rations-the pellt Urgeois is inclined to a Berkeleian vision of Ih� social world. reducing � t\} a the atre in which being is never more than perceiv� bei }, a men �r � . p escnla tion of a rhotrical pt'rformance (rtpdSmlalllm). HIS I) t r am· 'gIIOU$ posirion in the social snucture, sometimes compounded by the
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ambiguity inherem in all (he roles of intermed iary bttwten the manipulared manipulators, d«eived dcceivers. f.-.--o ren his very [ which leads him to the positions of �ond·incommand, second lead, second fiddle, eminence: grise agtm , , depUty or Stand. ( prived of the symbolic profits associated with rhe recognittd stat ' offidal dckgarion which allow legitimate impo sture (and W ' " SUSp«1 in true foundalion ): everything pm:l isposes him 1 ; L 0 social world in terms of appearance and reali ty. and the more . h� .sonally had to 'climb down', the more incli ned he is to observe man .... tions and impostures with the suspicious eyes '.. of resemmem.H BUI the site par excellence of symbolic strug gles is the domina n, dill; iuclf. The con/liers Ixlween mim and irlfc JlCCtuals over the dcfinit ion culture ue only one aspect of the interminable: stntggles among the: af ... {(rerlf fl1llCiions of the dominant class to impose: the definition of the: It. gitimue stakes lnd ....capons of SlXial strug gles; in orher ....ords, to dc:6at the lc:B.itimat princip!e of oomina!ion, � be:1 ....ec:n c:("onomic, educati onll or SlXlal capllal, SlXlal powers ....hose: spt
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Wheo he buys oDiclS d'au, 'ii'S 00 way an ioves.mem.' Wh.1
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(Oums for him is beauly of the Ihiog, II sc.:ondly. nol whether IS bUI whelher iI's made in a manlike way': 'you cao � -,'" agam, bUI )'OU can a[$O make of il. So II becomes uniqu e iTS kiod, bcc:au§( you can'l same objC:nd 'When Ihtre's something on you'rc going to eat smokro ed, II S (hl!'s In Imporrant work, you 11· more agreeable to eat II i� the Am· ....)1 how. You know bc-c:luse Slerdam fish mlrkel thIn ,n $Ome you'f(: In
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One might be ll:�ding Marx, who writes: 'Man is . 1niti�lly posited pr�V1te propeny owner, i.e,. an exclusive owner whos e exclusive permits him both to prC$Crve his personality an 10 d ' h msclf from other men, as well as relate to them . . . man's, �rsonal, disringuishing and hence �nrial i , propnatlOn of symbolic obtectS with a material existe nce such as ings, raises the distinClive force of to the ��nd I
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redllces purely symbolic approp.iuion to the suhslitute. To appropriate a work of an is to assert onese a lf s " '" sive possemr of the object and of the authentic taste for (hat
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which is thereby converted into the reified negation of all Ih� un,worthy of posisess ng il. for lack of the material or symbolic m'" d,omg so, or s mpl y for lack of a desire to posse!$ il strong enough nfice everything for ir', 'nle consumption of works of art, an almOSI tOO obvious i ' Ihis a.'gument, is only one, among others, of these:: Consrder the new CII1I of n ature which the fashion for �ond rhe ll:flls.al of pt:lil·boll,gt'Ois rourism have broughl into . �hl( has � deep affiniry wilh the '�irillt Fr..net' life style of � CIC�nt fractton among tOe dominant fractions, Animals, flowers, ga.srron-omy. environment, riding, gardening, fiShing. 'OtllOlogy', bhng, the ll:gllrar topics of lhe Parisian journal CQnnaiJs#
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(which is to the. dist�nguished. tasting of nalure as Om· ), prescnt �n Am is 10 the dlSt'"gUlshed tast'"g of CUltllll: /J mme of the legitimate objects and modes of appropna· o r gra tl (.!I�,u s ,-e: riating 'namre'-birds, flowers. lan�scapes-prcsup� a Own'"g a (jOII "rP1he privilege of those who ha>'e anOall tOOts. ",llurt'· manor house or gran� is not only a ,!uestion of money; one ,!1-itelU' 1 ppropriate iI, appropriate the cdlar and learn the an of bol· Ihe wine' which toU!t also as 'an a(l of deep communion with oncc', ac,!ui ll: trophies. tllMg· , .er' should have performed :at least . competenccs whICh arc both ,,-et'i of fishing, the skills of garden'"g, (hC5C"""" �",n, ,.,
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INTERIOR DECORATORS
Cadhi,n
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JEWELLERY ao",hcro" Ln.umte de Fronc< [)om!n"l.... F,....hon
God,y, HCd,.rd
Pt,.".."n M.."", de b T"'tI'
OrtS the survey. in which he declarn himself in (avour of hlghl . �It(,,�� re(rui'mcnt, the main.en.nce of the 'li�...1 profession', ( � fl0: replaced R Ln Ihnn.. , of chOICes conswullng hfe.styles Simply by conSidering Ihe chal'::lcfenstJCI an audience such U Ihal of (AmMi!Jan" titJ ;i'll, Th;s reia,ively npensi.., luxu,y cultural jou,nal, which is al Ihe ume time .n advertising rm
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rig�t,bank!, aU,mon rooms: an"<jue shops and luxury bouti<ju('$_ 'The gems taSle ""hoch (harxtefllCS (hem .s opposed nOI onl)' 10 'H1,dlenJ taste but also (cucnlllily by possession of ""orks of I goinS) 10 the 'mlddlmg' laSlc of the great majority I especially Ihe commercial cmployen. sreat r�ders of Ib /(1-jmml.J, proprl" e only II\osc rare goods 10 which money gi"cs direcl ,cc�, luxury cars (CS, VI) To measure Ihe d'slance 1>0:(1"«1'1 Ihe 'bourscois' public and Ihc I lua]' public, one only has to oI»crve ,hat the proportion crs and art;s" is H percenl al Ihe �intcs anClenl music I' al Ihe La Rochelle cGnlempo.-a,y "" fcs"val, 66 perccn' at ,hc
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Michd R" an adv1" um 'On Ihe other hand, �ing 100 fJsh. " , u""'.'. 'From '·So yOU aren'I tr:ldtng " ionabk is nO! much �ner.' adds a new I if" if ved lsa�llc, who dresses lheir children �'d � relie They're afraid I'll visit clients 'in fairly classic slyk', paying panic. ubr attention 10 rhe colours, 'I like on my car. a pretty smocked drt'$$ from lime to 1"hc .ighl son of ci()(hc$ for lime, and Engli5h overCNIS, Of ' sing eni adv in t propI COUI'S( ii's done wilh an eye 10 fash· but nor in the Silly way some Though .1 w«kends, 11 home-buff ....ho an Iell ooe year from anOlher', Michel is 'somc, thIng of an expcn'. His (alher·in. la..... ....ho has a huge (ellar, has 510:",ly initiated Ihem. When they . . YISII hIm, Ihey drink 'Margaux 1926, amazing Ihings Ihal Ihey don'l siock in r�raurantS any more . : . Wilh (Olleagu�, for example, [ m Ihe one ....ho chooses ,he ....ine. They an sec [ kno.... ....hal I'm doing. [ don'! go for some miser· able Cahon,·fol example. I know i, �'I 115le Ihe ume as a Sain,. EsfCphe Of a Saint,Emilion. Hardly anyone kno,"", how '0
choose wine, so as SOOn as kno.... a lillie bi, aboul 11 like someone who ,� [iYe.' AI home, Ihey have fc., a magnums of Veuve Oicquo . ... . which Ihey boughl: 'good air" fhings; we drink some I 1I1T1CS a mooth and Ihen 'he°' httt file ChriSfm1l5 presents . . . I II� . Whisky, we drink Chivas, "'e'ft J "!.Iher demanding ' They buy 1"--' · clarer direct from the p""uccr. ( ' 'l n fleen or etghlttn fr:ancs a be. Ide, < forry francs in Ihe sho.... ,-, a vcry good w'me.. In Ihe evening, "'hen Illey arc alone. rhey O! 'a very I. . meal, a vegerable dish and SIJ� " chcc$c.' Thq like ro tn"ilc f�
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curry, ulmon [hal we: buy occuao. :ally. Michel is pa.niculady parrg[ •
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profits :Kcruing from {ncir cultunl capilal are al leasl partially by those: who have pow
, geoisie of the vendors of symbolic goods and services, ;h; uccu.ives of firms in lOurism and journalism, publishing and tht
and ad.vertisin�, deco.ration and propeny devclo�mclll. fashion (lila. h their slyly Imperat,,'e adVICe and [he example of t helr c�n. , ,-lI,-ollg 'model' life.style, [he new t:aste-makers propose � mot1lIIlY whICh . ji'iOll:Wn to an an of consu�ing, spendi.ng and enioyi.ng .nHoug� io, . s bOils masquerading as adVICe or warntngs, they mamtam. cspeCially on and objects, the fear of IU�cu omen. the privileged consum�r subjects �g.Wg up [0 Inc ionumeabl� dUlics entaile
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oU<jl sWIY �, II" »S 01 1""*-011' ""I IOU PII'IOOA lunowe Y> (H61) )o.".."UI >Of >do,. JO Al� w�, ;),o� puc WJPl''lJ ',;)U() ISnJI OJ m\.lq s, 'I (1£61) ""P'nw IOU I! UOIUoqV (£')61) UO"""0'l,n! rr,u�,,.d ,no'l'!'" It'd �I A"q O. P>'"'0U" "Q I'ln0'lS ..OU!'" f'>!,,"wun (1£61) SU!Su!,qdn ,'I'!lI ,0J SUi'l' pi . ". SIOOtpS p>"!W (1L61) SU!Su!,qdn ,sAoq ,oJ SU!'l' pool! , ". sfOO'I>S P>"!N (1£61) o, 'u.... ho.j, "'IY Au. »< OJ p>""oU' "Q I'lnOll' 81 JO sl"O ( 1(61) 01 w.... �, ,wl'J Au! »s 0' p>I&OIl! "Q I'ln.opn,!,]! l"'oW
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in social space that they have a {Ulls and arti.st.s arc so situated . . )lcC te Ihal are Un!' !� lar inletcSt in dlsmle�tedncss. and In all the values tfllCI,! d universally recogn!ZC
( kgiurnllcy in Ihe course of Ihe survey is such thaI. if one is not ma"y cuhural surveys have done, product dechrarions of Il C may. 15 ,cfU correspond to no 1'l:11 praCtice. Thus. !II one survey on the· " ...hich n(IP e 74 ptrcent of Ihe respondents with only pnmuy schooling en· Illf"golna y. (1'Ilde judgements such IS 'Theatre elevates the mind', lnd sp"k [ dle imcO/it""., who, benusc of ,he d". p symmclry of ,!he SUf'/(Cy 511...,1100 and his social position is invoted .." h II , . . auroomy whICh (0al'-9o'hi(h in fXI mribule5 ,he I�k of i nlcrot 10 (he spetl1ll �1{hcr Ihan The object, Picasso, or even 'lhI: Picasso', a �ncr;c ferm (O� Ing ',11 forms of mO
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between �II rising cI:.ISses, the bourgeoisie in an earlier po:riod pefi f� bourg«lisie, and Ihe cs ablish l as ses , the arisloc rac � �, . geolsle. On the one hand. thnft, �cquISluon. accumulatio n, an (�r possession inSCJ>l.rotbk ( om permanen an ielY about � � propert � ml,ly abo�1 women, the ob,ect of a (yr:anOlcal peal usy wh ich is f ' � of msecunly; on the: OIher. not only (he (I$(emanon, big pt - � s nd ng generosity which are some of (he: conditions for fhe rc:prodUCliol ... �ial c�pital, ut also the sd(·mur:ance whic� is mani csted, in p . l m anstOCl1ltlc gallanuy and dcgant lIbera lIsm, forbIddi ng the which treats the loved object as a possession"-as If " the essen (i I-" '" lege conferred on the possessors of inherited wealth were freedom the insecurity which haunts self-made men, Harpagon as much as II . � noIphc. who are perhaps 100 aware that 'property IS theft' not t0 L. __ [he Iheft of their property. The stockpiling avidilY which is the root of every great accumula tioa of cultu� is too visible in I e perversion of the ia�z-freak or cinenu-b.( . . who carncs 10 [he: exucme, I.e., to absurdity, whn IS Implied in the. mate definitio� of cultival comempl�tion. ami repaccs consu mptioa . ?f the work WIth �onsumptlon of the clrcumStanllal mformation (ClDI. . . liS, nan composll1o n of Ihe band, recordIng duo eIC): or in the aclJllll' iti ve all colle�tors of i�ellhaustibk knowledge on socllllp . seuk mlllu subjCcts. In hIS symbohc clm struggle with the c(Tfi6eil holders of {ultur:.ll comperence, rhe 'pretentious' challenger-nune against doctor, [edlllidan against engineer, promoted executive againa business-school gr:.ld uate-is likely to set his knowledge and techniques devalued :.IS too narrowly subOldinated to pr:.lc tical goalS_ tOO 'seH intercs[ed'_ [00 marked, in their Style, by the haste of their acquis on. ill iti favour of more 'fundamen tal' and also more 'gr:.ltuitous' knowledge In I whole hO$t of mar ers, from [he major state examinations to ediwtill bolrds, from job interviews [0 garden puties. the cultur:.ll produCllonul the petit,bourg«lis habitus are subtly discredited because rhey rc:caJ1 11d acquisillon in matters in which, more [han anywhere dsc:, the impomM thing is to know without ever having learnt, and benusc: the seriouSId with which they are offered reveals rhe e{hical dispoSitions from whd they How, which are Ihe antithcsis of the legitima[e relation 10 cultulCTIle petit bourgeois do not know how to play the game of (ulture:!IS ' game. They take culture tOO seriously to go in for bluff or impostUre: 01 even for [he distance and casualness which show IrUe familiartty; ' sc:riously fO escape permanent fear of ignor:.lnce or blunders, or (0 $I stc:p to[S by responding with the indifference of those who are not cotrt' peting or fhe serene detachment of [hose who fed entitled 10 confesS
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to culture, such u the con, " [ions manifcsled in the relation ft>e d'ISpo,1 . . and · ,or authOrlflCS � r nformity which induccs an anxIOus quO[ � : conduct and leads to a choi�e of sure and certified produ�ls winners). 01 III the relatlon to language, wllh (sUCh as classics and prize: overshoots the mark nt" · which . . . . M -dency " hy · ·r-corr« tion, I viligan{e , mess III onemcorr« IIlguISllC I 0" pounc($ and ShOff f2l1ing foI fear of . . mOr:.ll IIlcorr«tness). arc tho: wllh dsewhere dOd it (:as " ' 0 " , d ItIf an I most · · h an a 10 e{h 1($, 90'11 ". . w hi,h are manifested in reIallon «(1)' same 0,,� . 0f It,e to insa[iable thitsl for rulcs of conduct w�ich su jecrs rhe whole . rigorous dsicipline, or in relation to pohllCS, WIth the respeo::tful conform, . ism or pruden! reformism which ale {he dcspa'r of ac5lh.ete revolutlon uies The llue nature of the cui [ur:.Il accumulation str:.ltegles of upwardly m ile po:11t bourgeoiS, or thcir educational slr:.lt�gies, i� mOSt clearly seen in rho: context of their whole set of str:.lteglCS, whteh dearly ex plCSS
Office wo,kcrs Commcn::i.1 employ= Sm.ll shopk�rs J�nior u«�tivts
T«hnietans Pt,mory 'ochers IMulI",J employers Big commercial =p� F.IIgiMm Scn'OI C�u"vn S«on
who likes books Ihat 'have $OffiC"o Ihing to do with medicine' or 'raise morll <juc-srions', has recently bttn rI'"lIding Boris Viano Sh
g(ner:ally las legitimate objectS), the choices of the member.; of lhe pe lile bour�isie arc organi�d in a SIIUC!UI'( similar 10 the one which ol' gani:tCs the tastes of the member.; of the dominanr class, with the cr:af!smen and small shopkeepers, whose posilion is based on poSSC$$iOI' of a eerlain economic opilal, being opposed 10 Ihe primary leaehers '"
I to those which distinguish [h( indumi�1 and commercial (rom Ihe IOChers and arlistic producer.;. The problem brought [0 by Ihe second faClor, thu of the link belwttn the 5(IS of acslhel1C
cultur:l.l intermediarks in accordance with principles en!irely analOJO'"
crhical dispositions roughly definable as 'consetv:at;v(' or and social origin and age, which are themselves rclared in a
I
'' den{c'l[; .impl;· ''; n 'Utc. Analysi. of co'''l' •. ,i .. .nd ,«I axes of in
Vartan" of p",it.J:>ou'grois II,
Buffct
£i", Kk,;', NiMhr"",/;;.
,.11 mwicaJ ..orb
'·6 rornpol""
,.11 compol"n
ba«al�urht
;{.o
BEPC
L'A.rlIMlllIe
Blel
Van Gogh
cultu",l "'pital + nomi< ",pilal -
Modern A'I Museum
[)ouai
started higher ed.
A.,/ of F"g'" ,p J o,..,i" F,p_T,,,,,.
0-2
12. compose!!
Gutlary
mwinl ..orles
.�u,_e contribulion ofU� ct "onal quaJlfnuon.
�ake an Thu �mplifoed di.,.. m only ;Mioc",,? . ,jabl";, which MUU _ Tho on.,. iU""mi.. _i.!>Ie Indo>ded "
�
ed by pc:nirion in ,he horizontal dim(nsion of space, can only be tickl t""een syslcmatiolly examining Ihe rei2!ionship which is CSlablishcd positions (or jobs) situated in social spacNune and agents also SltUaied In Ihis sp2.ce. . If what goes on in Ihis cenrral area of social space is gcner:ally 50 Illdc undelltood. th is is because, al best, in order 10 undellland and mcasuT( thy USing, (01 example, codes which are, by definition. d(finile), one has . . to frttl( the mov(menlS in the same direction or m oppoSite d,rt(ltons "'hi(h Il1Inspon bolh the positions and the agents. turning Ihe middle 'eglon of social space, a site o( relative uncertainty and indelermina.ncr b C�"'�n the two poles of !he social classes, into a sct of mob,le crossmg· pa'nIS, or r:l.ther, I 5(1 of shifling crossing'pointS where 1gents meet for a e{taln t ime as lhey are carried along by sim ilal or opposite, rising or . a ltn l g 'r.ljcclories. We are still closer 10 rnliry if we chU'2t n art
r;:;d �
--;' �
�
v��
middle clas� offer a p:anicuJarly favo urable opportunity fa sho rhc same is HUC of diachronic propertie s.
We thus �!urn fO t ," ing poinl o f the analysis, namely. Ihc n:larionship esublished
�':i�
' tion berwttn thc broad clasSI'$ of pos itions ddi� in ter m s diachronic proptrties and individu al proper/ies which arc lin ked 10 ti me:, like age, which cxprcs scs 'hc n:larionship to t hc p pUt of the economic system, at the eco nomic pole, the p:ut of hc:3lit 1 system , 21 the cultural pole) and to Ihc fUlun:, or l ike sex ;2 an (imperfect) indicator of Ihc evolution of npi!)l volume and rion and also of a whole relationship (0 past and to !he classc:s.
;
""I"'�
donal
1 fUfUre 2S well 2S
other 50(;21
�iS lin� bt,lw«n thc fUlure and S?Cial ascent ,or Ixlweo:n Ihc pas! and e.:h n c � mongly cmphaSlwl m Inc domman t world vicw (an ual or a pasnian is s.aid 10 'h�ve a fUIUIl:', vid meanins tl\(, promise of so(i UCCn510n, i_c.. cmbourgroisemcnl). It is bU« ! on �nd conSlantly ranf� by all Ihc social m«hanisms of compet i tion (Ihc mOSl c�empl 1 ry of "'hida is, of course:, fashion), in which II\(, d,ffcll:nct$ belWttn Ihc das sa atl! � tr:Insblw inlo lime.lags in a nce a;m;ns 11 lhe s1mc objttlivc_ It f uncI_ in Ihc polilical or c"cn xicnril\c unconxious Ihroush ,hc normaflyt uses or lhe nol ulionary xhcmc whi ch Ihc 'people' ...ilh Ihe SII' persedw past or which, morc subtly, revCr5al of Ihe dominallf view which Sivcs Ihc f lure to Ihe 'peo k', lO p Ihe form par e�cellcncl! o( archais m. (This xheme of Ihought IS pmiculadJ polent in universes which, like Ihe inlellecwal fK:ld. are b sed on !he oppo lilion betwcen ,he new and ,he old.)
cI21 d
IS
�
lOci
111
Irknflfies turnS Ihc rCVOllllionllY world VICW, ' U In
a
The Declining Petite BourgeoiJie
The posilions whose numerical dcc:l il\C expresses rhcir economic d«bnr 1re occupied by individuals whose objecr,,'c properties. pncticn and opin ion be seen 15 linked 1 a pasl 19C, S,tU1ted al Ihc exlrI!m e pc:xaI or Ihc fir5t axis. rl!lalively elderly on rhe wholc and undcr�ndowed Wid! educational capilal (at mOSI Ihey have the CEP or CAP), Ihe (fa(lsl'fICII and small shopkeeper5 manifest in all Iheir prl!ferl!nces rl!gressive d,spOSl" lions which are no doubt Ihe source of Iheir repressive inclinations, P' dcularly visible in their rcanions to ev ery si!Gn of dep,lf(ure from the 0 order, nOI leaSI, o( course, ,he beha viour o( young people. Thus, rea" againsl all indinations [0....1Ids mod ernism or comfort, which they c . only see 1S moral decadence, on every <jues lion concerned with I e e. tr day art of living Ihey make chokn which can be call ed regressive tilt' much as Ihey are vcry dose ro Ihose of Ihc manual workers, ,..,1 fot havins ba:n forced on Ihem 10 Ihe sam � elfle-nt by n({C"SSily. { �hey that thc-y prefer a 'ckan and fldy', 'easy 10 m am m la . 01 P
s can
0
�
example,
� :
�( ��
'ker'S � v
. . . . . . . . ' . . ' . ' • e ' • • • • • •e • e . Z Z ?Z
Wife Who It 'JUSt About
,., ve(S flight
,
O. and her husband run a . b sinC"SS In Grcnoblc. She �JCIJ kC she � I parents by Ihe lime '" and was sem 10 an or· _, ,Ole)�e, . ...... .g . She ,..enl 10 xhoo) unn) �,",ouc!l��" _ � but did not lake Ihe husband firSI worked 11 It' (EP. Her . , ai '" . Then he was em· d ., . 'hI In • baker for e ghl year5. r ) ,-0 ,,0 he sel up his own r..·( VI! •• bakery businC"SS. lbey hlve one mar· ,;cd dlughltr, aged 22, who works III ' ph.,m:KY_ They own a small blkc')' (employing one orher pel' I0Il), ..hieh (hey will soon be sell· '"' so as to aci1uire anolhel small · Ih mop, bu. this 'lime a buSllless . \a$ ck manding, 'less of, bllld . They h.ve recently bought a house: subums of Grenoble; \I has a In living.room, dining'Ioom, sever:ll bedrooms. kilchen .nd bathroom Ind 1\ surrounded by a large, wcll· kept garo:kn. "...c
:!. �
n� ,5
II
l
the
�t
'1 do like Ihings 10 be clean'
[1IMdc. (v"')'lhinS is brigh!ly pol. ..t.ed. 'l oon', w,n. '0 boas" but do hke 'hings 10 be clclln, so [ like � my hou$C nice and lidy,
).
��"
r� k:" :
"JUst a Ilim to tidy mylelf lip' She 'never splurges' on clothes: '1'111 nor one 10 spend a lot on my ...aN robe.' Anyway, 'fashion is consrandJ changing . . . whatC'o'u )'Ou do, JOII can never keep up with it.' Insrad, she goes more for 'dassic' clorhe$. She is not sure wherher to acccpl I wedding inviration: 'I'm nor kcm bc
The New Petite Bourgeoisie
. As rhis CISC clearly shows, age d·• I ercnccs--tncrcast.ngIy so as one towards the culwral pole-mark differences in rhe scholasti.C
.....
....
..........
..
.
C>CSS'>CSC',CCC,,'·CSCS,CCS',>CSSCCCi
Nurse Who . , �. '(,Iv.....," with Passion
�Ih F. is n. She obtained the Ell ...,th philO$Ophy) Ind then to nUl$ing college. For four .'C1I she has 910tked as a nurse at Universillire ( International ,e'r5Cri the dt:�t Roidcnce) in Paris. Her fa.. u 5t: r ...u a civil scrvanr and her the is a Post Offio;:e clerk. She ..her a OIlC-room ap211ment It,d 1lone rn ce·hall. I t (on· ..h • small entran . f u rc-n o fablCCt to buy fUfnnure: ·It's nOl that I don't likc II, I lUSt don't happen 10 have '"Y-II docs.n't seem to be vcry o· iCTtual I admll ii's nOI very conY(' OlCftt fot people whe I invi n te them . . dInner, but I roily don'r rhrnk II s 'mpo ,unt ' She bought her G. Irotn 2eV seeond.haoo, from her �1l>O,h(,r ('$he lei me hHe il (�P '); she bought hel phonog....ph .. I " h., n��f.{a-la:1I yeal at the Iycec, "'tlh ·tlt.: firsl money I eatned work. 1"& I n tl " sanatorium in my spare tnc Ir '5n' t roily 'suitable' for Il n �r r«ords are , ( r u . "
��
:��1S, 100;
�
� :�;'::� � : �
,
'I love being creativc'
She ;5 eager '0 e�prcss her pcrson.l. ily and scizes every opportUn.ity to 'create' somerhing person.l: '1 love
.. . . everyone in the f.mily d....wing
does drawing: my sister d....ws. .. my f.ther used to draw.' Mainly. though only episodica�ly, she docs blxk·and·whitc portratfS of people she li ko' '1 enjoy colour bUI for me it's not !he imporlanl rhing in a d....wing·; .. rhe most important fh;n&,
are 'the CUtvCS and then, well. the e�prcs.sion, atplurin8 someone's ex· prcs.sion , , . the pleasure comes . ""hen I'm doing the drawltlg, later it's of no significance.' She leafOt how to make enamelw.re: first from books, which her aunt gave her fa gerher with . kiln when she w.s I); later she made enamelware wifh her sisrer and friends .t fhe municipal youth club, 'People who never look oulside themselves' Het only make·up is an i�visible
foundation cream; her h.1I IS
The firsr quali ty she looks for in hel friends 'is joy. I like healthy le, � e who are glad to be alive.' '1 hk people who are 11 ease wirh them· selves, pcrh.p5 because I'm not II· ways or ease wth myself. I thrnk .h" what mako people carry on liv. ing ;s always being .ble 10 h� for . son>Cth ing, nevcr :Kccpnng thln� as lhey are. . . . n.c people I don I like, I un't :Kcept becausc they seem to mC . . . empty. 1 mean
thinned and cu. mtdium·len8.h.
they're dull, they have no ra��e ' no . . pa»ion. Perhap5 "no pa»lOn IS tOO strong; I mnn rhey don't UIaJII any' thin8, .hey don't seem to �l any. .hing rhey never look ou,sldc .hem;"lv�. They don't =lIy lilll.
.
,
1lt(y'n: imprisoned by 1 whole en· vironment. They 'In', get our of if and don'. even rulizo: they «Jll/d our of it. There arc '1uirc a lor of them among my p1ritnl$ and rile people I work wilh. �Ie ....ho are perhaps 100 dependcnl on material satisfactions, on the material things society can offer them . . , J can't say I do 't like them, but I'm not in Icresu:d in them. Thccy don't inler
gel
n
�I me'
'Doing �hing ""ilb my bod)"
She ""o�hips 'nature', 'everything that is n1lur:1I in people, in the 51rttl', and loves 'nature in woods and Aowers.' For a whole Ye:I. she prac ised 'physical np� sion' wirh group: 'Doing somet ing wilh my body . . . pe forming movements, gotu=. rhll an:n', n«asarily rhe auical, that np'css my body-r u's something r cn;or.' On oliday, she shuns campsites ( 'they're 100 orga· niw:l nowadays, almost hocels'): she unnol sp
,
th((lry' ('il helps ro have $Om rions of hislory and archaCOlo
��
'We uxd 10 choose 1 Ihem : nlk about it and then cre ar
: Fo. Ihree years she al$O belon a� amateur drama group WhhStd end
10
ffl s al Bo'S d'Mcy, neaf 11"5 They PUt on quite a few eaba . she...., based on potfry. 'We d I on Boris Vian's wo.k so 1$ ro OIl!: " ir Ixuet known.' The, h.� a, so ' "'.lUen [ncl! L _ own sho�· -.. 'We used choo 10 se a theme, lalk about it a n fhen creale . . . bUI rhe people rhc-rtd were 100 young and ir broke do Everyone Went off I eir own waa-n. aflel the btU �nd we neve! SOl �the� agaIn. OccaSI,onally with I gIrl.frIend she still does a bit of an ing, 'jUst linlc skelChes ,hat ""C work on tO� her' ('I wouldn'l ...� W3n td ro mak a livi g our of it ' it's just a hobby' j.
�
•
h
l
l
e
�r
n
'I don't go just bcause
it's cheaper'
There arc periods when she goes regularly 10 the I ealre. III Iii( lilt alre in lhe- Citt Uni versitam: � " recently $ttn Ali Bah'J c..... 'by I from the Theatre Obliq«. 1 thin ; it w1$n'r bad'. Dario Fa " the Salk �mier, 'ir was vel)" r1d� cal, but t was i the form of stariat IOld 10 people and it was excelletlt.' She goes 10 sec s ows tIm arc nor e�pensive: 'I don't go just bealillt ii's cheaper, bu t Ihe fa(l iI, at tM t"" Gtt Ihere are very good shoWS II aren'l expensive. . . . Of course, � isn't very comfortable, bUl you t � good evening 01,11 and ir dOCSJ1 COSt 100 much aboul rcn flan' IIfrerwards, � normally come we and er 01 visi ano,hcr friend ", ke el i l fe we if uu pl.y rhe disc _ She went 10 t e Comidit-Fr•
h
'�"r
h e
i
n h
�
l
h
h
him. 'perhaps bt. '� c re much more oflen (8� per dcb er for m the iC, log c .' ----- ts= me'res= e= ?l' t SJm of quality int sic mu AII · t): cen per �8 ( ' = 111 "'l C '' :: '' er ':' : ' ' '= : =='::':: := ;:::C: to' l't'� � silions of which the new petite bou��isie is ,he bearer find "(he dispo ns for thetr full developmenl only Pans ( table 2').'" ilio of which it reinforces Ihe ttIC 'uond n-together with education,ive sio ten pre nl l iS ,.,0 doubl one of {he factors conduc to appropriation of the �t_tages associated with pro�imilY 10 the cenl� of culturbelal onvalginuesg, ,.I,.art mo� intense supply of cultural goods, the sense of h u a entives given by conl:Kt wirh groups who a� also culturally !em the inc � orher olcgory in which lhe sysdif no is n: the y nll que nse Co I d.J c b,"{)ur more marked: fer· a� ls (ia vin pro and s ian ris Pa een tw be es tic differencintensity of the legilimue practices (museum visils etc.) and :nccs in the competence (in music, for e�ampk); differences in !he rela· of lhe range sen� of being an outsider to Ihe the th wi �, ltu cu ale ilim Icg 10 ip tionsh o"'g poinl', 'I don'! know muchs Str my ot (,n sic mu or ing im pa of d ..-o d provinciaJs, other thing ng mo� marked among ilit :&bout it') always beices ab y !O !ecogni�f,cn lhe in all, ve abo , �n f e dif al; equ bcing Parisiafl$ always being the s. on ini op rr ma m� Ihc ing ow kn t ou 9 Slstle self.absorptlon rhe substitule for the hof>Ii or, as .Pllns 10 scl(.estttm, 1101 10 'have l1or only �rmllled bUI de�udder of audaciry, ]Ou;,;)' plcasu� IS. grounds. The fellr of 1'101 J.� KU. on ethical a.s much :IS on sctCnlllic man< a l to o ercome enOI � �wn� enough plellsurc, the, logica! outcome of the . (xpt CSSlo self for � a�d the f�r of pleasure. is combined with .thc. search, , others ( relatlng 'bodily expression' and for Commur"lcl a"?n with a group but �s irhangt), even immersion in ?t�ers (.consldered nO! as . l ethIC IS !ub)et:livities in search of Ihelr Identity); and the old �rsona py. AI thus rejcned for l cult of personal hcallh and psychologICal. then Ihe opposite pole from the 'politicilltion' which depersona.h�cs f>« competence which results (rom rhe lack of cuiru!"al capital. nample, the laSte for the rrinkers and knick-knacks which adorn lTta l lTti� Clpit:(e and hallways is inspirtd by an intention unknown to eo b ak$ with his family is favourably resarO$irion emerges from an older fur survey, 'n whICh the proportion ....ho eal something savoury for break (ew, ham. sauuges, pile 0. che se) dcclin('$ as one moves from the {arIII e ....orkers to Ihe manual workers to the clerical workers and senior e.x«:ariC' .ives, whi le the proponion who ell s....«t foods (jam, honey or fru.l) ,
,
in the OpPOSite w.y." bJ" eS.,.d It is also known that the whole set of socially cORSliluled di fferenC tw«n .he .sexes lends to weaken as one movt'! up the social hierarchy especially to....ards Ihe do minued f..crions of rhe dominant cI:w. ....hefC h women lend to shore Ihe most Iypically male prerogati ves such IS t enoc do ing of 'serious' newspapers and inleres' in poli.i cs, ...hile the men
Chomper
pion c�alf1 .1s b n< . . Y 5 I)ruar, a ""neJ " q u0 01 I'K his defended 'Ft
'..
-,..... •J
...: � • •
• •
tty.
unskille
;
monuments, thcanes and conccns. or possession of records or uSC' 0r • public library. This docs not mean, howcver, that the 'aristocracy of / bour' merges with the lower sITa,a of lhc �tite bourgeoisie, They dl J h I from the �ti, bourgeois i n � number of w�ys, not least in the faC! t of rhey behavc as manual workers cven in their spire time (�3.9 'r foremen and XI.S �rcent of skille
yoursc:lr
pe�'
jobs at kISt once a w�k). Their solidarity with the
�
·onu ..
�
sss'SS" " " ,-s" ,,'S ss s's'sssss'
foreman Who ,tI:lS Always Wo � f Other People or �tr
L.
�ked
aged 61. started work as an
on the French Railw:ays reo'"ce ar p II
Recently they became ,he owners of a little house in the mountains out· side Grenobk. 'Some friend-ne ....as an engincer'-invired them rake ;t over sever11 ynrs ag
10
IUt three ynrs. ,hey have done a lot of work on i,: 'herything was 'Of, ten. I wn walking around upstairs and I fell through the floor Then: "'�rr no tiles left on the roof, the r,IIn nme m on all sidr$.· Mr. L has done all the rtpai, work himself: 'You know. I naned U an appten· nee on the 1'1llways, and an apprrn· tice had !O Inrn everything. You SO' a th ree·mon th course on sani ta· tion. three months on elenro-weld· ing and so on. And you always rrmember your tnlde, (0 some ex· tem.' They intend to make this house their mam home. ·No...., I'll be glad to ....ork. no.... that it's my house: I'm nOI working fo, other people I'm fed up with ... ·orkmg and bemg uplolted.'
'Learning to ski u 42' He is 'very fond of cold ,,·eather. sno..... but not skiing' : 'I'm af..id of hurting myself I go tobogganing wllh my grandchildren. You see, I
had .'1 accidem in my brother·in· Iaw's car in Tun;s;a . . . and I in· jured my ....rist, You only h.,·e to
look at i, to sec the state it's in. That's why I prder tobogganmg. I un Stt up and there's no danger of falltng.' (His .....fe 'staned Inrntng '0 ski .t 42, beauSt n � x
:
'
� ";' � thl� e,,;oys warching plaY' (H1 ' who th.t slle also likes 'cir' ;�adds gam(S-(he Guy Lux pro-
m�e-<juiues , . : He doesn't go ma{chcs, b«ause he is g f.football " . 'MfVOUS ,n crowdS . bUI he 'readI in the papers.' He .he sports results docS not buy a newspaper bUI some, $( lefl by the pas' md pide.! up rhO . " s. n.c prev.ous day, he senger 'brought home u Fig""'. L'AunJf't, Lt (6,,41' &rrbttini ami u Nouwl QMtn-alfJIr,' 'The Of\( he mOSt reads, . es L'Auron',' sayl his ... ife. ·(O.d a((1'
'You ClIn sec what they "'present'
They rarely go to the cinema: 'Why bothel. wilen you've gOt TV!' When flley visited Paris. Illey n.... Tix Whiu Htmt and Tilt GDMm FINa 1{ lhe Thotre du (hitelel and Vito!"" WdilZl'J at Ihe Thotre du
Mogador. Since {hey were married they ha\'e not b«n 10 the Of'Cn: when he was young. he s.w .nd en· joyed T01((< and La Tra"lala, On thei r first trip to Paris, they 'did all the muS(ums': 'even the Mils&: Greyin. lhe Louvre, Veruillcs. the Pantheon; we've been to them all once. 'I l ike art bue I don't know artists' namCS, , . , I've hnrd of Gop, and Pi1'1ndello, a"d Michelan· gelo. people like {hal: H.s wtfe is somewhu embarrassed by hIS admis Ston of lack of Ime!'CS' and remends him: ·Ah. but MlChel.ngelo no,..', you liked him. You d,d hkc t� Sis, tine Chapel.' Then he �dds: '1 hked IhO$( pictures b«.use you C�n sec what they represent, But when you sec half a dOlen squiggles and pe0ple spending a fortune on It. well. pef$Onally, I'd throw that sort of thing in lhe dustbin if I found il. " , Anyway, I'd be af1'1id of being s....indled.'
'
ss.ccs,sscc " " " cc·
dllss. lifc.s!yl.� is m�nif�slePOSC$. It IS no a iden that rhe only uea of ....orking-elass pr:acric( in ....hich STyle in iTsclf achiC\'es styli rion ;s that of langu3ge, ...ilh 'Igot. lhe langua� of leaders. ·godfathers'. ....hieh implicitly affirms a OOunter·legiTimacy with, for eumplc, !he intenrion of deriding and dcsacn· IUIng .he 'values' of the dominanl mor:aliry and �Ihelic. ...
If "
�u
an
i
((
.
100.
u
It tends {O be forgollen Ihal Ihe specific logic of cuhur:ill domination ll1C1nS Ihal ehe fullesl recognilion of eultunl legilimacy can and often � coexist ""ilh the mOSI radical ch�lIenging of political legitimacy. P"rrhWnore, Ih( awakening of political consciousness is often bound up ""th a whole process of rehabilitating and rebuilding self-CSln:m, which, �ausr: it involves a reaffirmirion of cullur:ill dignity Ihat is e�p ,�.
:.IS
1\ ,5p«!OC survey wou,ld be- nffi:ltd fO eSfab!i�h �yond dispute the Il:J� , . !t0f\. 5111p wnl'lm Ihe working da$$ �rWl!Cn posmon In rhe �lation5 of pr lO( .ion, political ConSCiOU5rleSS and rd31ion to {uhull:. Bu! ;1 is know I . 11 Ill(lt answer, 19 percent said they w.:rc satisfaclOry and 44 percent said they OOt. Tt,o,e who would vote for the orher !ef,· or righ,.wing pmies 'nS"'ercd mort" often: only 18 perccot of the PSU voters were ·don't·knows', 22 ptl(C1\t of the Cent.im. 26 pel(ent of the Soci.l im and Radicals, 27 per· (tnt of the Gaullisrs (UDR), }2 percent of [he Giscardians {RI), .nd they much mOK often said the agrttmcnts _re unsatisfactory (80 percent of 'he: V(){ers, 73 percent of thl': Centrists. 10 percent of the Socialisrs .nd 'dl(als, 69 percent of the GaulliSlS, 64 percent of the Giscordians). SimI' 1,ly, asked whether they ·.pproved or disapproved of the introduction of W:� education inlO the school curriculum' (IFOP, 19(6), 19 percenl of thl': agricultural wo.kers gave nO .nSwer (as ag.inst I I percent of rhe employ·
Of
"ell:
�
�U
crs. 9 percen! of the m.nu.] workers. ckric.] workers .nd lunior CXe( . tt� .nd 7 percen! of the senior executivc:s .nd profc:ssionals) , 33 percent � o ,hem diupproved ."d 48 pbIe 29). Thu s. when asked ho..... Iht}' ....ould "Ole In the: evtnt of parli•. IrIenlary eleclions, ....omen oyerall reply Jess of"n Ih.n men, but the gap be
of
""�n ,he sues lenu[ies dt.::red in 1968. A!though. :lccording [0 VOIing in[tnlions, lhey rq>rcscmed )6 percent of Ihe Sociaiisl el«torarc for Ihe whole of fiance (40 percen[ of Ihe whole working populalion) and 21.9 percen[ of [h� members in [ho: GIIO to 'polilical rcsponsibilitiC$' or 'responsible' polilical choices, and Ihe complemenury rep=ntation, based on the sense of in· compelence and impotence, which condemns Ihe economically and cui· rurally deprived 10 re:liance on 'eKf'C'rts' or a belief in 'cryptocracy', another way of overestimating (he Olher classcs. Like e�ery recording of 'dall' al face value, this endorsement of appearances would have the ef· fcct of preventing in<juiry inlO the objective bases of Ihese represent2' lions. and, more precisely. would prevent one from looking into Ihe reality of the division of political labour for the trulh comaintd in lhese representalions of Ihe division of labour. In faCl, here as cJscwhere, Ihe relationship belwC(n rcality and represen· mions is eslablished through thc dispositions which are the intemalized form of rhe plObabilities associated with a given position in Ihe division of labour. 'Techninl' competence depends fundamentally on oc>ciai com· f'C'lencc and on the corresponding scnsc of being entitled and rcquirc
�
sIr
i yi ng optrations, which always favour Ihe original over the com· lS cbss f t on. not co mention the contenlS il te:aches and [he way they are l2ught, [0 rcinforcl' rhl' propensity to ind ividualism or egoism which thl' JIlllds t ildren of ft!( pclile bourgeoisie and gran
'Personally I don'[ think I ould enrol i n a p2fly. I"d be inopabk of hIving [he same [25ln sllaight:lway. Bo:ause of my Jansenis[ origins and my bookseller grandfather. I'm open to everything and ! can't get excited What I mean aboul a gcnetlll [ good poinls of is. appr«i2le II>( several partin. Given Ihat it's one's very personal opinion [hal counts, I don'[ think it's possible 10 And a party that can combine cerlain cle ments of stvl'ral doctrinn thn pet· SOfl:llly I don't find incompa[ible."
c
idea.
ArrOli1l1all1
�" " " 'SSSSS'SSSSS" " " " " " S" " Si
' • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • w . w s . ' •, • • • • • • • • • • •
An Unc12ssi6able Professor
'Could you situ�te yourso:l{ on the political spewum?'
'Look, thaf's ano,her question I'm incapable of ans...ering. I eould tell you I VOlt
'In terms of rhose mo"('ments? Look, where do you pur GaulJism? Jr's , question I have to a$k you There are G'ullim who 5;ly they ire left.wing, and oth,,, who 5;11 they are right.wing. One of Ihem 5;lld it once (laughs). ThaI was brave of him, If I look at the way I've VOtro since I firsl smtro, I've VOtt
'
choice of systematically privileging the private and intimal(, both at work and 'at home'. in leisure and in thought. as againsr [he public. rhe , collective, Ihe common. Ih(' indi/ferem, the borrowr-d,16 But the nljvdy
'('goisric' d ispositions of the [>(Iit bourpis hav� nothing in COmmOIl wi th the subtle egorism of thosc who ha"e the mnn! ro affirm the uniquenns of their [>(fSOn in all th('ir pr:l.Cliccs, starling with their p� (ession. a 'ibtr�' lcriviry. frttly choscn and freely (OnduClC(rson· ality', irreducible 10 the anonymous, im[>(rson�l. interchangnblc roles ) III with Which the [>(Iit bourpis must srill identify ("rules are rules' order ro (Kist or. at Inst. in order to ha'� their soci�1 existence recog' luSt· nized. es[>(ciaJly in their conAiCls with the bourpis! ' And rhe diSt 111
(ul prudence which shuns delegation and enlistm('n t has nothing l1· common with the conviClion of being the best spokesman for dis"
guishcd thoughts 2nd opinions,
"
' . C C • • s • • s c s s •• • ' " . • • ". • • • C • • C• • • • s
is a fight, And in a 'J think politics
to be a lot of you. 6 ht there h;u . �� a mass, Y,ou n=> (h4f'W()"UI", (Ammu"iJl "
'When they really go on Jtrik�. it's broiust: ,hey really need to, People don't go on mike JUSt for the fun of il.'
a.�.
" i • • S . C C • S • • • , C S S , . S S S S S S • • • , . C . S . , C .
that for politinl in, executives are ,he category ....ho mOSI often Sly 5:,1I10rlion. 24 f'C'"em of they rely on daily f"'f'C'rs (27 percent of them. and .
ckrinl workers, as agai nst 14 f'C'"ent of the brm· percent of craftsmen and shopk�!,) efS, II peKent of manull ....orke". 8 r (19 f'C'tcem of th(m. as against 7 percell! of IUIliO or on �«kly ml�ines of t n f'C' rce pc-rcent of manual ....otke". � (JC(uuva and ckflul workers, 6 seen lIS a be may This ers), nt of farm c",ftsmen and shopkccpcrs and 4 f'C'"e 'form to ) (which rises with rouutionll lcvcl manitdl1tion of the concern instr�. resorting t� t�( m�1 sp«ifK: and m�t kgiti,mare an opinion' by , Ion . whICh can be chQS(Cn III rebnon to one s , men'. the 'journal of op,n 'mass mroia' o/ferlllg ho- . radio r � ?�? i v i �(le to posed op i n ;u on. -:-: own opi I'I'It, May 1976), And one IS mo�nized produClS (SOFRES, T iliJ,l1Ilm tl ptUtI ed opspo i tion in the fact tha�, to pursue lemptro to see a similarly WuClur , s beheve !II f'C'rsonal represtntauons ro a their dtmands, senior necu(lve rely on mikes more often public service, where;u manual and office workers c" and junior cxcc�tives pre· than Olher utegories, while aflis;rns., shopkccp , whKh does not prco('XtSI or OUI' fer a demonwation, 1 sudden mobLhza\lon live the event. fOlln1
the' junior eKecutiv('$ and
But even a rapid reAcction on the social conditiOns of the creation of demand for a '[>(rson11 opinion' and of the achievement of this ambiti? n is suffic ient 10 show thu. contrllfY to the naive belief in formal C<Jualtty before politics. the working-class vicw is relIlistic in seeing no choice. for the mos! deprived. other than simple abdication, a resigned recognition
of status-linked incompetence. or lOul delegation, an unte$erv('d remis !.ion o( self. � tacit confidence which chooses its speech in choosing ilS spokamen.
The
Modes of Production of Opinion
In he! nOI all answers are opinion�. ana rhe probabili ty !hat a given group's roponses arc only disgui� non·responses, pol i lC concessions {O
the imposed problematic or elhiul d iscourses naively received as ·per· sonal opinions'. no doubt vari0) I0 ' ,.. . n fact, m ans"'cr [0 a question whICh, by {he dominant ddinirio 0r poll. ries, would bc:: classified as political (e.g.• a
, '" . . .. . . . ... , .. , , .
competent consciousness, but on the im· (Vcr vigilant, universally of 1� of a class habitus, in other words schemes of thoughr and �ction l ulae: of political discussion-on a class must uSC the simplistic form r [f ciousness, scious ulher than 1 class cons
��
un(On
such u scx confronted with 1 (Iucstion of domesTic morality - �hen gh throu io ,scholastic made a political qucst � :�tiOO. �hich tends to .be . uI1Ycs. and on, all socnl "tegoncs except {he semor e�« ,nstituliooaliuti ly tndcpcn. large .nd s rned by d:l.S$ etho (asionals produce responscs gove Farmers, for eumple, are the group of declared politic.1 opinions. one s�u1d nOI ulk about sex to children, or ..h..:h mos' ofTCfI say ,hat ld be glvCfI before the age of firt�n: whcreas th1t I>O .'iCX education shou ulivcs are once again led by their cultuul cleriol �orkers and junior ex« 11ed ;n the good inlentions to fC(ognize the dom!nant no�m (which is � l10n should be gIven before quation itso:lf) and most oftcn say thiS educa cal tendency are liule 19(".. cs...... ially when they o iginate from the domInated f�(IIon$ of Ihe (Ill (O"NC. 1 ' -. . . rod ,. , ,n1nl (ius. _ dO"· y re· which underlic the p ucnon 0, �1Il1�ns are c Spositio '['he di . t thc all In �l preclscly IS, that them. g in ress ex g l h
� up voting according to their di· . ",Cttves."
c.'pm'tr, CommuniJt '"
'The Radicals are. well they used
to
be. I don't know what they're like
now. but Servan·Schreiber is trying to modernize them, anyway they al· ....ys used to be a party of old fogies, with a lot of FreIl5CS 10 qU<Stion on 'he bUline» world .lId politics, by ,1111 frac.ion ( "' ), !9n � QllC'tion: In cvcry country, the bu.it>(lS world exm• • rcruin influence on poliric.1 bou, righ•. 01 100 Im.lI? bl< In your view. In Fn.rw:c I, rhl" nAuC1Ke '00 gmt • o.ss ff2Clion -
\ hnu.1 "'-o
Profc:ss,ons. KnlOr u�u"....
" "
" "
Commun,s, I':o"y Non,Commun'st lefr
., .. " " " ,. "
"
M.nu.1 ....,.k.n; . Cnfu....:n. lhopkr:tpcn;
C1mcal
.n
G.ullom
C.n'�
111
�
� " "
•
..
"
•
"
'"
..
•
..
•
..
June 1971.
h1S to consider [hc slluClural dfcCls rcsulting from thc cmcr�n« oJ ultr.l·lcffism as an iditJorft in thc fidd.) Political 'problcms' (like aD those in philosophy, religion Ctc.) always CKist in and through rhe " tionship betwr:en tWO or more antagonistic groups. This mcans tha� siders, being uMblc [0 takc an activc pall in ,he political game .hid! de faero reserved (or full·time professionals (politicians, perma� C . cials of che party �ra'lIm--(he right word, for oncc--poh."c:al n.liSIS, professional ideologucs), would only havc so�e challCe ol . . ing out thc opinions which 'suiI' them, from wlIhm [he un'venc � rc:ady-made opinions, if the prodUClS on offer always bore a ,Ddt:.. . [he label which is both a mukcr and a guar.tIllt:'C. By cl�rly . the posirion in lhe field of ideological production whICh '5 In It ..... pressed in every aUlhorizcd S[alement of posirion. the label whtC tee " an opinion to an authorily (a pap31 encyclical, a Cent,?1 Co� . cision, a canonical author ctc.) cnables Ihe layman (0 gel hts 'of! dill ega" Oi' ill 10 find ,he 'righ(' seance: (0 lake, eilher on rhe basis of Ihe dd iri he e�plicitly or tacitly grants ro rhc occupams of a pafllcubr po! 01 " (he ti.cld of ideological producrion, or through his pr.tcllcal gNSP � cI:us sr homologies berwt:'Cn rhe poli[ical fic:ld (i.e.. [he /icld of
� ; � �
an� �
�ng the Labels �c:ldj
, . ' . , • • , • • • g ". , . s • • s " • • , · " , S s " s
,\\!Ic:Il
,here's an clection and they r on TV docn you un find �lIy kn�.... ,he party and ou' l _. Cwttn L, ,, .... liuc 0[",,""11( t. th l n g. r-"C" j Well. ,here are some of ./
,II '� ,..
•
,hem s�lk rc:ally wdl and you can work it out, But s[ill, when he sr1flS ....i[h ....hat party he is and ill (ha!, you pay more a([emion. a.�.
'
" Si" " ,SSSSiS" " SSSSSSS" " S
or collee· Of eKlr.t-Qrdinary, sub(crranean or ovc:rt, individual , .N oru,n ., .
st d ' [,,"(C, spOnl1ncous or org.iIlizcd) i� whic� he can �uate a� Onc:nl cal producuon ,,:,hlC� repro h'mself prKtically and [he field of .drologl. duCtS [he s(rucrure of lhe polirical field '" accordance with liS own lugiC
•
M'Slppropriation almost inevit1bly occu.rs whencver thc ques�,on ,". . . cannot answcr II w1{h· vilcs ,wo different readings. when Ihe umnlIIared ou, bringing jc down from thc specifically political plan�, whcre ic is . SitUl1ed by thc professionals who produce II and who WIll analyse or (ommelll on the results, to (he pbne of ordinary experience, 10 which the unconscious schcmcs of thc c(hos can be directly applied. Thus thc politically 'incompe,clll' Il2ve evcry likdihood of placing thcmselves in ,nc camp of the champions of the: moral order and the: soci11 order, and even of appearing more conserv1tive in this 1rc:a Ihan the conscious �e. fenders of chc social order, whenevcr thcy are led 10 1pply ,he C"OIICgOlles of ,heir class ethos to problems a!rc:ady consti[u[cd politically a! rhe level of thc field of ideologic11 producrion, 11 is known [hat. so long as onc rtcmains III (he order o( domescic mora1ilY, ,he propensily [0 libcr.tlism or ,oicrancc 'ends to incll:ase as one moves up the social hier.trchy (which 5Cl:ms co jusrify thc well·known [heses 1bout workingourgeoisic and especially its declining fractions or in d.'v'duals. Resentmcnt is dearly the basis of rhc relctionary or con:SCf\la t(�e·re�olution�ry st�nccs of the declining petit bourgeois who are a?�loos {o maint)in order on all fronts. in domcstic morality and in so Cl(ty, )n d who invcst their revolt against tnc worsening of their soci)1 I'Osllion in moral indign)tion ag)inst the worsening of monls. But it of(en )Iso pef\l3dc:s the Jacobin rigour and mcritocr;ltic revolt of rnc u-
Tsblt J] Views on po!i.i,,! order .nd
S..,..,..en.s on po!i.i,,! o,der .nd mo..l orde'
Polili,," ",tkr
Fumers, fum workers
elm ("" ion
) 19�9-1972'
(con.inued)
Posi tive rcspons.es, by d • .,. f""ion"
C..frsmen. sm.ll shopl<eepers'
Mmua! workers
tS on poli.i,"1 J tt""' ",0",1 (>Ider ....
IUIllor
:,Jtr ,flU
�uld tell chil· � poor; h... to do .nd
S"ikC'S do workers more h.rm ,h.n good (SOFRES, 1970) When .he", is • Strike in • lirm, .hose who Wlnt '0 amy on working ought ,0 be oble '0 do SO
"
�1�;'�I
..
(SOFRES, 1970)
"
" ,.
(SOFRES, 1970)
Labour unions .re too powerful 1! present (lFOP, 1971) Dinppro"e of P'''' pl.yed by labou! unionl (IFOP, 1%9)
19'9)
'�
Girls of IS should not b(, allo,,'ed '0 Itt .ny films .hey w.m '0 (IFOP, 1971) M,�ed s.:hool, a",
•
b.d .hing for girls' up bringing (IFOP,
'"
38,'
�RES
" JJ
...
8U
"
1971 )
Would b(, .g.ins. s.e_ edueo.ion in s.:hools (IFOP, 19(6) The pill should only be sold !O unm.rried minors with p.",n,,1 cons.ent (lFOP, 1967 )
JJ
"
_ ,__ .- _ _--,,� _ '_ -: ':. ' _ - 3: ' -::--::-:� ;::--, l6 -::-_ � :- -::---, -� ;::-: 9 _ _:
with politics. IFOP gfOUPS ,he indu!!!;.1 .nd commerci.1 employen wi,h tho c!1frsmen .nd shopkeepers; groups ,hem wi.h .he s.enio. c_c.:uftvC'S )nd members of the pfOfcs.sions.
"
"
88.>
Senior executives, professions'
�
"
" ,
"
Clericol, Juntor exc.:utivt'S
--:fc ligule' indinte the Strongcst tendency in e1(h row. .. ... genc"lIy kwer 'don', knows' in .ll dasses on .11 the quC'Stions concerned with m.,. brep' ,hose on the sole of ,hc pIli '0 minon .nd sex educ1!ion in scr side. ...1>0 give a high proporlion of vores to the Communist Party, thus seem to be opposed to lhe (rKdons "'hich combine a high proportion of abstentions and rebtivcly less"per (5« (abln 33. 34. and 3'). While rhe probability of �l(ling a nl(ional ne....spaper ri= Strongly "' Nun/ional capitll (with rhe probability of reading 1 re8,onal n(....'!'aPt.irh varying in rhe opposite .....y). rhe v1tial n io s uc pUlicularly markC
un-
Commerci.1 emply
1l.6
n. 8 284
194
346 l8}
H.9 43.2 �8.9 WI
19) 46,0
8U 8),) 162
97)
du ,;.l and co m rcial mploy rs we pic. nlllS IndioS liule, mai ly omnibus papers and u Figl1ro; at t' crs (and, still funller away, ,h iRltilc(!ual$). rcadi ng 1 101. m inly 1.4 cach. L'I/Jlmanili or U NOli"" (JI,$tn1altur. The space of Montk w ly magazines-no doub. because: they have (0 maintain 1 great dis,'nce ,he daily cou� of polilinl li(c, bo:-cause ,hey deVOlbl. ".,i,,;,s (.nd v:anouI .n.ly:scs of j . corrcspondenc.,j . Th ' o:.e · """
�
!
�
.
The repressive dispositions of ,he smlll independenl cnfrsmen and shop kttpef$ and, moll: esp«ially, of Inc, oldesl flllClions of these n':lativcly old groups, appear in a whole set of convergent indices. Thus they manitn[ a suspicion verging on hoslililY towards modern an and antsls ...1>0, in aU lheir praClices. and especially in .he liberties rhey rake with ,he linguistic, »lIori)l, cosmetic or ([hical norms, no doubl symboli2e aU Ihal these groups deplore 01 detesl in 'young people: T...enty pcrcent of them declan': Ihal '(he modern artist lakes his audience for a ride', as agai nsr 13 r(enl o� bolh Ihe senior execulivcs and lhe manual workers, 9 pe,,;ml 0 Ihe ju· nlOI exC(ul;vcs and 6 percent of Ihe farm ...orkers; 28 percent of lhem con· Cur ....ith the view ,hal 'an is just a mailer of business', compared 10 20 per Cent of rhe junior execulivcs, manual and farm workef$ and l) percent of
.
r.
lhe senior ex«utives (CS. ll). l'ht;- are Ihe calegory mOSI inclined to say 'ha� I�hef$ do not know how 10 win rcsp«t (62 percent of them, a.s aga.nst 1) percenl of ,he junior CKecuriycs and clerical ...orlcers, �4 percent 0( the manual ...orkers, 48 percent of the farm workers, 4� percent of Ihe $enior ex«ulivcs), to attribute children's failure at school 10 their 'not �rkin8 hard enough' (H percenl, as agains! 47 perccnl of junior execu ilv,", and clerical workef$, 46 percclll of manual and farm workers, 40 per· cent of senior executivcs) or 10 consider Ihal school discipline is 100 lax (4) pcrcent, as ag:ainSi }8 pcrcmt of manual workers, 36 petcenl of junior Cx«utiv,", and derical workcf$, }\ percent of fum workers and 30 percent . of SCnlor exC(ulivcs) (SOFRES. 1973). Thq arc more oftm in favour of
·
ou�; n (ootm! !O the manui 5HiC!�r film censorship Ih�n �11 DIller gr . l ;$ - no! sU'Prising rhal lik th · · tx!XuflVe$ (eS. L ). It r WOrkers and [unlO! e big commercial employers and ,he foremen, they devote a 5ign;li(an ponion of their (generally limited) rcading 10 Mil/lilt, a maga�inc , 5 �iatizes in .all ,he rhcmcs and social fanusies (such as �cnophobja) pem.bourgcols �nlment. Ther( IS every rasan to suppose thaI the _ e� . uegories. :crulf$ moogly ,n these co [r(mc Tlgh! ro
,
� .. l'(). :;
---� � � � --�
Although it is cemi n Iha! individuals occupying similar r """ �i{ioliS lTla, . . . have d·I•erent opinions aceord"Ing !O their social origins :and their lories, evcrylhing $«rns fO i ndicate Ihal {he effectS of individual !Ory, which arc: panicularly visible i n the C25e of groups � dclcrminal( posirions in social sPa(c and rhetdore more di$""rsc:d 1 _I � 1'1 ... 1 ... . . � Wi th·11'1 Ihe: ,.Imlt$ 0r rhe inherenl . respects" �re e:xe:rlcu e:treels of d . Ih�1 the: e:lhico-poli liol dispositions of the: me:mbers of the: same: ,,:'aSO � pear U ttal'lSformed forms of the: dispo$idon which fUl'ld�memally 'hal"al;, ,. tem� the: whole dass. Thus 06Jhfuium, the: deep-rooted respect for the: . est�blrshed orde:� wh.ich setS lim it$ to petit·bourgeois revoir, is also rhe
rae: occupyifl;��.
bUls of rhe: s:x'�1 VirtUes of rhe ne:w pedte bourgeoisie. When it is a m�{(er of sellmg goods and services which. like {ulrural goods or mlfe- rial 'comfort' goodS-household equipme:n t, buildings or furniture
clothing or leisure goods-are more or les:;; succc:s.lful malerializlfions of the domin2nt Hfe' ryle, the Kquisition of wh ich implies a recognit ion of � . . rhe domm�n r ethICal or aesthetic values, norhing succeeds berrer than
the disposirion to sell one's own virrues, one's own certaintics, one's own values, in a word, the certainry of one·s own value, in a SOrt of ethic,.} J�obMry, �n assertion of exemplary singularity which implies condemna, non of all other ways of being and doing. This disposirion is particubrly oiled for when endeavouring to convert the working classes, to bring them IntO the race by fOisring on them the latcst bourgeois 'must', rhe btest. m>
�
J
comparability of the dan and the material and mental aUlomation of rhe analysis, the survey allributcs the operation of (f)mlilurion to the respO°f dem, even when it is in faet a product of the qucstioning. The effect 0 qucstioning is a1l the Sfronger, rhe more complefdy the 'rcspondent�' .are deprived of rhe ml':.lO$ of �iog rhe 9ucstioos as 'political' and of giVing ,hem an answer_nd a 'polirical' answer_nd rhe furrher they are (,om
"'"
' s gi g g' g g ig sg
. did the bossc5 cal, I!-yI':.Ir Worker? .'IiI of the Age of tilt . y",'ay, we e C!'1p like that An a fC'a1 supposed 10 be having . {{me. . . 8/1i/Jing wrn'ktr ha{
� :rc
goo
produCtion.
Nothing more dearly reveals the truth of this self·intetested questioning than the ruling fraclion's obsession with the 'economic information of thc citittn$', inspired by their dream of 1 dominated class possrning IUSI enough economic competence 10 recognllC the economic competence of ,he dominant class. The infOlm1tion which governmen,s so readil y and abun· dandy supply is of the SOrt which lends to disqual i fy (as a doctor does his patient'S knowledge) the information the dominated derive in pnCliul form from tncir ordinny experience (for example, their knowledge: of the risc in tnc C05t of living or of inequality in taxatio ) This 10-�mingly most formal oppositions within this social mytholoBY rder back, 'fhCS de: 'V( lhe-ir idcoloBical stn:ngth from !he: fut Ihat they discreetly, to (he mosl fundame:n�al oppositions wil�in the: ,1w1Y or l the domInant and �h.e: domlO:U�, ordc:r: lhe oppo$ilio.n. �Iween '" l rOOled 10 d 10 the diVISion ofbbouT, and the: OP. POSlllOn, . ..hIeh I• inscrilx pnnclpIts 0fdom· ion of the labour of domination, beeWttTl twO · · ' thc d,VIS ' ' . d sp'll(Ua, ant and dommat"', te:mpora, an domin S POWe:1 .-0 IMllon" follows that the map 0f SOCllI space. premalerlaI and inttll«tual e:1C. It y a SlliCl table: 0f the h·ISIOnnII . I Put forward can also be: read as �IOusy . · ". hich organtIt Iht idel 0f Ir te SOCIaI . constiluted and acquired cate:Borits ... . . and subjtcls be:longmg {O Ihat world . ." ld in lhe minds of all the . sche:m� (and �h0: 0pPOslilons 10 shaped by il nle: $;Ime: c1assificato� speCIfied, 10 .fidds orga· which they arc e:�prcsstd ) can funCtIon: by kmB of Ihe: do��nant c1�, niwl around polar positions, whe:ther 10 the fidd Ition cO�SIl' organized around an 0pp?sition homologous !O the oppos al product10n, luting the fteld of Ihe: SOCIal elasses, or m .lhe: fiel� of cultur which is ilself organi zc:d around 0pposlllons whlC.h reproduce the: s�ruc. turc of Thc dominant class and 310: homologous to II (e:·B· , tht oppoSlllon . the: fundam.tntal opposi. betwoxn bourgeois and avanl.garde Ihc::me) lion consuntly supportS SlXond. third or n . �nk opposmons (Ih� ...hich underlie the 'purc:sr' e:lhical or a�the!l(: lud.&ements, wllh the�r high or low scntime:nts, thcir facik or difficult nOl1ons of kaUIY, the:1I light or heavy slyles O:IC.), whik e:uphtmizing itsclf to the point of
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. misn:cogniubility. . . 10 a lCh. ht Wh Thus, the opposition be:tween the heavy and the h8; : . numhcr of ils uses. especially schobstic onts, SCfVes 10 dlsltngulsh popu lar or petit.bourgeois lastts from bourgeois tastts, can be: used by Thelin: Ctiticism aind at lhe dominanl fraclion of the: dominant class 10 cxpras t� rcbtionship between 'intellectual' lheam:, which is condemn.c:d for ils 'laborious' pretensions and -opprasive:' didaCli�ism,. and 'bourgeois' e�tn:, which is praise
designate (he rc:Jarions between dominated fractions and doltI)'llall{ lions within thc dominant dm; the words right and left then meaning d� 10 IhI: meaning they have in expressions like , , takt 0IiI . theu� or 'Idr·bank' theatre. With a funher degree of 'de.rt �gh,� a IUlton', . can even serve 10 distinguish two rival tcndcnciC'S wilhin an aV3flt. artistic or litcl'llry group. and $0 on. � II follows thaI, whcn considered in each of Ihdr uses, the pa"rs of 1 ifitrs, the sysu:m of which constitutes Ihc (onccplull ..... m 'lUll. uip -, m, . � - dgemcm 0f lUte, a� extremely poor, almOSI indefinite, JU but p . "": for this reason, npable of ciiciting or expressing thc sense of th . l bk" Each 1 ulicub r u� of one of these pairs only takes on in � � f I f mean. 109 IJ'I rdatlon to a urllVCr5e of discourse that is different O!1Ich rne usually implicit---5ince it is a question of Ihe system of Stlf"f:viled. as insq»nbly bolh the real � n8 a �lT�' sdf f
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. ular state of social struggles, i.e., a given stale of the distribution of 1��antlges and obligations, such the right to pensions or cheap fares, a pUlsory schooling or military service. And If we are amused by AI· ( m story of the father who pulls the communication cord to �onse Allais's P tl"3in at the very moment h is chi ld becomes three years old ( and the Slop needs a ticket to tl"3vd), it is because we immedi21dy sec the socio fgical absurdity of an imagi:l1ry vlriation which is as impeccably logic11 e on which logicians base thdr belove
The Clam'jica!io'J. Struggle PrinciplC1 of division, inextricably logical and SOCiological, function wilhin and for the purposes of the snuggle betwC(:n social groups: in producing conCeptS, they produce groups, Ihe �ery groups "'hich pro duce rhe principks and Ihe groups agains[ which they are produce
Only in �nd through rhe srrug&le do rhe internalized limIts beeo boll�daries, barriers [h�1 have .10 be moved. And ind�, the systemIl'It clWlficawry so:hem.es 1$ (onsmutc:v m ord(r [o p". v(n( {h( absenee 0' d"Ilcn confrontation from ""� 0wmg · 1hC two d', cou l"SeS ° C�XIS' [ pe2CefuJly as par:dld alternativo, in (Wo carefU ','y 1 . par:u«t1lor the sense of being unted like any Tom, DICK� or Harry who can be seduced by tawdry charms which invile h' � Ss o he mo,st primitive and elementary forms of pleasure. �: ,. .I��r �:Y � t�e pHSlve utisfaClions of the infantile laSI' '0' ,.-, Icrior. ? . . ) an indisputable mC2Sure of the capacity £ot subhmal10n whICh de· the truly human man.'6 What is a.t �take in acsthcti� discourse, an� . of a delinlIIon of the genumdy human, IS imn
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questioning; so roo, rhe meaning of each particular application of rhe single system of dispositions emerges in its relationship with all the orhers. Norhing more clearly manifests the systemariciry of the habitus than the systematic redundancy within unlimited invention which de fines all its products, judgements or pracrices. Ir is, however, by mobilizing around a systematic survey all the statis tical data available on each of rhe areas directly explored, and also on areas excluded from the initial definition of the object of inquiry, such as knowledge of economics, theatre-going, attitudes ro child-rearing or sex uality etc., that one is best able ro check and fill out the dara provided by the main survey. This makes it possible ro compensate for any patchiness or superficiality (depending on the strength of the indicators used) of informarion gathered directly from such a wide range of fields; and ro do so without falling inro the abstract unreality of 'secondary analysis' of the disparate data mechanically accumulated by 'data banks' devoid of theoretic capital, positivistic institutions which are the pride and joy of research bureaucracies.8 The fact remains rhat some of the inherent limitations of secondary analysis cannot be overcome. Thus, like the various surveys by INSEE ( I nstirut national de la statistique et des etudes economi9ues) the survey conducted by SOFRES (Societe franc;aise d'en9uetes par sondages ) in 1966 at the re9uest of a number of firms, for the strictly limited purpose of discovering consumer intentions (C.S. V), gives little information as to the fre9uency and occasion of consumption or on the 9uality of rhe goods consumed, which often make all the difference (e.g., theatre-going covers both avant-garde and boulevard theatre); it does not distinguish between museum visits and visits to exhibi tions, which (as we know from the INSEE survey on leisure, C.S. IV), do not always vary in the same way-museum-going, a more ascetic aCtivity, being more common among teachers, whereas exhibitions attract more members of the profes sions and a fraction of the old business bourgeoisie-and it gives no in dication of how often they are visired. It lumps concerts, opera and ballet together in one 9uesrion, although one would probably find an opposi tion between concerts and opera analogous to that between museums and exhibitions. Similarly, the reading of works of philosophy does not mean much until one knows which 'philosophy'. There is reason ro think, for exam ple, that each fraction of the dominant class has 'its' philosophers or even irs idea of the philosopher and philosophy, and that one group will think of Teilhard de Chardin, or even Sainr.Exupery or Louis Leprince-Rin guet, whereas another will think of Same or Michel Foucault. Thus, in 1967 when the arts students of rhe Ecole Normale Superieure ( ENS), ro a large extent drawn from the dominated fractions of the dominant class, were asked whom they would like to see invited ro speak in their college, they thought first of Same, Claude Levi-Strauss, Paul Ricoeur and Fou-
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For each socio·occupational category, the distribution by sex, age qualifications was checked against the results o f the 1%8 census for whole of France. This verification was not possible in the case of the gories constituting the new petite bour eoisie, which the censuses � not break down by age and qualification.
q\J.estioning� so roo, the meaning of each particular application of the single system of dispositions emerges in its relationship with all the others. Nothing more dearly manifests the systematicity of the habitus than the systematic redundancy within unlimited invention which de
fines all its products, judgements or practices. It is, however, by mobilizing around a systematic survey all the sratis rical data available on each of the areas directly explored, and also on
The questionnaire was based on the hypothesis of the unit y of tast( and tnduded, 10 addition to a set of questions on personal photc and attitudes to photography which have been in
areas exduded from the initial definirion of the objecr of inquiry, such as knowledge of economics, theatre·going, attitudes to child-rearing or sex uality etc., rhat one is best able to check and fill out the data provided by
S(Udy,6 twenty-five questions on tastes in interior deco ration singers, cooking, reading, cinema, painting, music, photogra hy, pastimes etc. (see the questionnaire, reproduced at the end of this
p
dix) . Whe� e deavouring to grasp systems of tastes, a survey � by do,1C . questionnaire IS never more than a second best, imposed by the need obtain a large amo unt of comparable data on a sample large enou gh to . treated statistically. It leaves out almost everything to do with the mod:./.': Ity of practICes; but in an area which is that of art, in the sense of a pe� sonal way of being and doing, as in 'art of living', the way things a",' done and the way they are talked about, blase or off-hand, serio us or ",,.. vent, often makes all the difference (at least when dealing with COli'". practices, such as viewing TV or cinema) . That is the first reason why ' everythtng that IS said here about differences between the dass . es or fractions in fact applies a fortiori. " Furthermore, in order to give the systems of dispositions constitu ting ' : taste as muc h scope as possible wIth tn the limI tS of a questionnaire , a 50. " nes of gambles was made, in which the exploration of a whole area (e.g., . musIC, Cinema, cooking, dot hing ) was entrusted to two or three ques- " tlOns (sometimes only one) whICh often had to stand in for a whole bat. ' tery of tests and observations. For example, the subjects were asked to choose, from � list of adjectives established a posteriori on the basis of . non·dIrective IntervIews and tests (showing photographs of socially marked faces, buildIng a composite ['ide ntik it'} picture of the 'ideal' male Or female face by adding socially marked features, hair style, mou.. tache, Whiskers, beard etc. ) , those which seemed to them best suited to their frien ds. This could not be expected to yield more than an atten. uated, blurred image of the deep dispositions which guide the choi ce of spouses, fnends or colleagues ( partly because the list of adjectives, how ever carefully prepared, was imperfect and forced a num ber of respon dents Into the negative chOICe of the least unacceptable option ) .' '
:'
rhe main survey. This makes it possible to compensate for any patchiness or superficiality (depending on the strength of the indicators used) of informarion gathered directly from such a wide range of fields; and to do so wirhout falling into the abstract unrealiry of 'secondary analysis' of the
disparate data mechanically accumulated by 'data banks' devoid of theoretic capital, positivistic institutions which are the pride and joy of research bureaucracies.8
The fact remains that some of the inherent limirations of secondary analysis can nor be overcome. Thus, like the various surveys by INSEE
( I nsti(Ur national de la staristique et des erudes economiques) the survey conducred by SOFRES ( Societe fran,aise d'enqueres par sondages) in 1966 at rhe request of a number of firms, for rhe strictly limited purpose of discovering consumer intentions (C.S. V ) , gives linle informarion as ro the frequency and occasion of consumprion or on rhe qualiry of the
goods consumed, which often make all rhe difference (e.g., theatre-going covers both avam-garde and boulevard thearte) ; it does not disringuish
hcrween museum visits and visits to exhibitions, which (as we know from rhe INSEE survey on leisure, C.S. IV), do nOt always vary in the same way-museum-going, a more ascetic activity, being more common among teachers, whereas exhibitions attract more members of the profes sions and a fraction of rhe old business bourgeOisie-and it gives no in
dication of how often they are visired. It lumps concens, opera and ballet togerher in one quesrion, air hough one would probably find an opposi
tion between concerts and opera analogous to that between museums and exhibitions. Similarly, rhe reading of works of philosophy does nor mean much
uncil one knows which 'philosophy'. There is reason to think, for exam ple, rhat each fracrion of rhe dominanr class has 'irs' philosophers or even irs idea of rhe philosopher and philosophy, and that one group will think
However, the loss of preCision and detail in the analysis of particular . areas, each of which would reqUire a whole set of surveys, observations and tests, is offset by a gain in systematicity. Just as in a single field, patn tlng for example, the particular configuration of preferences ( Renoi r does not mean the same thing when combined with Leonardo and Pi_
of Teilhard de Chardin, or even Saint-Exupery or Louis Leprince-Rin guet, whereas anorher will think of Same or Michel Foucault. Thus, in
1967 when rhe arts srudencs of the Ecole Normale Superieure ( ENS), ro a large extent drawn from the dominated fractions o f the dominant class, were asked whom they would like to see invired ro speak in rheir college, rhey rhoughr first of Same, Claude Levi-Strauss, Paul Ricoeur and Fou·
casso as when linked with Utrillo and Buffet) is a substitute for the indi cations of manner which would be yielded by direct observation and
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cault; whereas the students of the Ecole Nationale d'Adlmi'ni's 'ratic ( EN A ) , mainly the sons of senior civil servants or members of the fessions, named Raymond Aron, Fran.;ois Bloch-Laine, Pierre Ma,ssC Paul Delouvrier. Sartee, top of the Jist at ENS, was only fifth at which put three politicians at the top of its list, Mendes France (seC'OI
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rained in such an artificial situation as interrogation by questionnaire, re course was had throughout the analysis-whenever a difficulty arose or a new hypothesis required it-to observations and questionings in real sit uations (see, for example, the interviews interpolated in part II). But
at ENS), Giscard d'Estaing and de Gaulle.
Another limitation of the SOFRES survey (CS. V ) is that it does provide all the information needed ro construct the system of tory principles-volume and structure of assets, and social
There is virtually no information on the respondents' economic
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( land and property, industrial and commercial profits etc.) or their cui" tural capital, whether objectified (works of art, antique furniture, pianl;) . etc. ) or embodied (educational level) or on their social origins and previ; : ' ous careers. ,
The CESP (Centre d'etudes des supportS de publicite) survey of
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(CS. V I ) fills in some of these gaps, but very imperfectly, since only the " distribution by newspaper read is available (and not by class or class frae- ' tion ) . The survey carried out for the Ministry of Culture (CS. VII) con, ; :
tains some very useful information (e.g., on ownership of works of art), ' , but does not allow analysis by fractions (precise information on occupa, tions was not collected) .
Finally, the INSEE survey on leisute activities (CS. IV), although providing the most remarkable set of data ever collected on cultural con sumption, is limited by the nature of its classification ( the industrialists" ' for example, end up in a curious position because the category used in.. cludes all those employing more than five people); by the fact that it deals with declared practices, which are not related to real practices in the same way in all classes; and by the lack of information on the quality of , the activity, which means that the scatter of practices is underestimated. By reducing the different classes of practices and goods to their fre quency, i.e., quantity, in areas where almost everything depends on qual ity, one systematically reduces the difference between the classes ( though without affecting the ordinal relations ) . Thus, differences in the quantiry
of museum visits are compounded by differences in their quality. The privileged classes, being less subject to collective rhythms, distribute their
visits more uniformly through the year and the week and so escape the disenchanting experience of crowds in peak periods. These differences in rhythm are themselves associated with marked differences in the quality of the exhibition areas-different 'levels' of museums, more and less 'dis tinguished' exhibitions-and in the quality of the genres, styles and au
thors. But it is, above all, the manner of conducting the visit-in particular, the time devoted to it-and the manner of conducting one�lf while visiting which provide inexhaustible material fot the games of dIS. . [inC non. In view of [he limits of [he data collened and of any information ob-
above all there was a rule that had to be unlearnt, the unwritten rule that only data collected in socially defined scientific conditions, i.e., by pre . pared questioning and observation, may ent�r Into the sClentlfic c�n . sttuction. This rule, which would not be so Impressed on the SCIentific unconscious if i t did not have the advantage of putting the sociologist out of the game, and therefore out of reach of the socio-analysis which every analysis properly implies, had to be transgressed in order to bring up all the information which the sociologist, as a social subject, inevita bly possesses, and which, when verified by comparIng It WIth the measur
able data of observation, has a place In SCIentific dISCOUrse. Only a research diary could give an adequate idea of the countless choices, all equally humble and derisory, all equally difficult and decisive,
and therefore the countless theoretical reflections, often minute and un
worthy of the name of theory i n the ordinary sense of the word, which had to be made, over several years, when I was faced with a questionnaire
difficult to classify, an unexpected curve, a badly phrased question, a dis tribution that was incomprehensible a[ first sight, in order to produce a text whose success must be measured by the extent to which it allows the
reader to forget the thousands of revisions, alterations, checks and COt rections which made it possible, while manifesting at every point the high 'reality content' which distinguishes it from the 'not even wrong'
sociological essay. And so I have simply presented, as the argument called for them, the items of information that are needed to undetstand or check the stages of the statistical analysis, endeavouring to avoid both the methodological flourishes which often mask [he absence of any real reflection on the operations and also the theoretical elevation which de prives the reader of every means of verification. ( For example, although I have refrained from giving it the air of a formal protocol, I have endeav oured to provide the informed reader-without disconcerting readers less familiar with the technique-with all the information required to check the results of those analyses of correspondences which are presented in detail: the dimensions of the table, the number of questions and total
number of corresponding modalities, the numbet of individuals, the na ture and coding of the table, the list of variables, a description of the hy potheses underlying the distinction between active and illustrative variables, a list of the specific values and the rates of inertia, the main ab solute contributions and relative contributions. )9
There remains one final problem, which would no doubt merit a long discussion: that of writing. The main difficulty, especially on such a sub ject, is that the language used must signal a break with ordinary experi ence, which is no less necessary in order to appropriate adequately the
knowledge produced than to produce it; and at the same time bring ho,..,; the corresponding social experience to those who do not, or do not M,m ro know about it. The 'concrete' analyses ( although there is concrete about them in the ordinary sense of the word, since they JI) suppose constructio n ) are there to assist the return in to experience
course on art and on the social uses of arr is bound to appear both vulgar and terroristic. Vulgar, because it transgresses the sacred boundary which
distinguishes the pure reign of art and culture from the lower region of the social and of politics, a distinction which is the very source of the effects of symbolic domination exerted by or in the name of culture. Ter
product of scientific description, and to make more difficult the distanc. i " ing and neutralization which the semi-theoretical language of fake sci. ence generally encourages. The same is true of all the document s, . ( f acsImiles of books or articles, photographs, extracts from " et� . ) which ave bee inserted in the text, in order to discourage absent_ 'i. � mInded readings whIch are abstract in the sense that they have no ent in reality.
roristic, because it presumes to reduce to 'uniform' classes everything that is 'liberated' and 'alternative', 'multiple' and 'different', and to confine the supreme experience of 'play' and jouissance within the grey propositions
of a 'knowledge' which if it aims to be 'positive' must be 'positivist', 'to talizing' and therefore 'totalitarian'. If there is any terrorism, it is in the peremptory verdicts which, in the name of taste, condemn to ridicule,
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indignity, shame, silence (here one could give examples, taken from ev eryone's familiar universe), men and women who simply fall short, in the eyes of their judges, of the right way of being and doing; it is in the sym
Art is one of the major sites of denial of the social world. But the same '.. unconscious intention of disavowal lies behind a number of ': which overtly set out to speak of the social world, and which as a resul t · may be written, and read, schizophtenically. ( How many p ilosophers socIologIsts Or phIlologIsts came to philosophy, sociology or ' , ' because It was one .of those obscurely situated areas of the social space , whICh make I[ pOSSIble to aVOId defin itIOn ' All these de facto utop ians. " who do not wan t to know where they are, are not in the best position to,I" understand the social space in which they are positioned. Would we " erwise have so many readings and lectom or 'reproducers', . " " without material, thoughts without instruments of thought and there :" fore without an obJect--