Pierre Bourdieu

Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist often cited in educational research literature. His major interest was in class and its implications. His Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture (Theory, Culture and Society Series), Sage, 1977, with Jean-Claude Passeron (in French: La Reproduction. Éléments pour une théorie du système d'enseignement, Minuit, 1970) explores how class attitudes reproduce themselves, helpfully and unhelpfully, though he was also interested in social mobility (breaking away from one's birth class). He speaks of habitus, the habitual, unchallenged social assumptions; conatus, striving towards; field (social setting); capital (social, cultural - the metaphorical class wealth). Reproduction is repressive, restricting personal choices and aspirations. He calls this social violence. He argues that class has a stranglehold over social power. A work of the 1960s, which included the 1968 student protests in Paris, we wonder how times have changed over the last four decades. Class, wealth and power do not go hand in hand now, since celebrity and high bonus jobs like banking have emerged as a major source of wealth,

The poor however still exist, the unemployed, the unqualified, the weak and sick, carers. Some strive to move out of this, others do not have the confidence or determination to do so. Engaging this difficult group in education has long been a government aspiration, but few projects have been made much difference except at the margins. Class may or may not still be with us; poverty and low aspirations most certainly are.

What causes low aspirations? Feeling powerless comes from being told you are powerless. Confidence needs to be encouraged and nurtured. This is the meaning of reproduction. Low aspirations fuel low aspirations in one's children, high aspirations likewise fuel ambition. They 'reproduce'. A high aspirational family builds up 'capital' - the evidence of social and cultural achievement. Qualifications, property, possessions. They provide the 'right' educational opportunities for their children to succeed. Poorly educated parents are content with low achieving schools.

There are exceptions. Ethnic minority families in general value education, so that their children do better than their parents. They have high status careers in mind, in law and medicine. They might not of course find their ideal in education easy to achieve.

Bourdieu  headed a group of researchers interviewing the have-nots. The Weight of the World is subtitled Social Suffering in Contemporary Society.  His researchers interviewed many people who qualified in some way for the label 'social suffering'. He wanted the case studies to illustrate his theory, although this book is not theory dense. The transcriptions have many examples of people finding it hard to escape from the situation they find themselves in. He described the interview as a spiritual experience, an opening up of personal agendas in ways which help to construct meaning. The interview should be a relationship, a non-violent relationship. He refers to good sympathetic interview technique (based on relationship) which attempts to get into their shoes. He contrasts this with tired questions which stem from the sociologist's project rather than from real life. He uses the phrase "induced and accompanied self-analysis" (p.615). In this style of interviewing, the interviewee is not the 'object' of the research. He adds: "True submission to the data requires an act of construction based on practical mastery of the social logic by which these data are constructed" (p.617), which involves "the uncovering of immanent structures" which reveal ideosyncrasy and complexity. Conversation analysis should look for "the invisible structures that organise it", whether these be social, or academic, or other. Research constructs something new, by asking the right questions based on a deep understanding of social processes. He calls this "realist construction" (p.618). He regards transcription of interviews (p.622) as a rewriting, an interpretation based on only a selection of audio and visual events and set out to be readable by others. Sociologists look for patterns, structures and processes which make society predictable. Reproduction/replication of class or status is one, power is another. Understanding these allows us, and those who suffer from the consequences, to be more politically aware and in a better situation to find different routes forward.