Beyond Bourdieu

Pierre Bourdieu is arguably the most influential sociologist of the twentieth century, especially since the once common criticisms of his determinism and reproductionism have receded. Now, however, his intellectual enterprise faces a new set of challenges unearthed by decades of sympathetic research: how to conceive the relationship between society and place, particularly in an increasingly global world; how to recognize the individual as a product of multiple forces and pressures; how to make sense of family relations and gender domination; and, ultimately, how to grasp how we each come to be the unique beings we are.

This book tackles these challenges head on, starting from the philosophical core of Bourdieu's sociology and taking in hints and suggestions across his corpus, to propose a range of novel concepts and arguments. In the process it outlines a new way of looking at the world to complement Bourdieu's own – one in which the focus is on the multiple social structures shaping individuals' everyday lives, not the multiple individuals comprising a single social structure.

Review

"This outstanding book is bound to inspire the growing numbers of students and academics interested in Pierre Bourdieu’s general orientation and in building their own work on it. It makes an important contribution, particularly to Bourdieusian studies in family, gender and childhood." Leena Alanen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland "Atkinson’s book pushes the field of Bourdieu studies into new and exciting territory. Drawing on the author’s expertise in phenomenology, it shows how Bourdieu’s theory can illuminate the study of everyday life, the family and gender. This will be an essential resource for Bourdieu scholars for years to come." Jeffrey J. Sallaz, University of Arizona"Rather than take 'field' as the starting point, as many interpreters of Bourdieu's work have done, Atkinson argues that the individual and their movement across time and space (their lifeworld) which creates and is constrained by 'circuits of symbolic power' is a better approach. […] Atkinson offers a corrective by placing the accent on the individual without forgetting the structures of power. […] This book will be of particular interest to scholars in the sociology of education, psychological sociology, the family, and gender studies."Deborah Reed-Danahay, Anthropos