Introduction: Feminism, Bourdieu and After

Abstract

How might Bourdieu's social philosophy and social theory be of use to feminism? And how might it relate to -or possibly even fruitfully reframe -the ongoing problematics and current theoretical issues of feminism? It is very well recognized that Bourdieu's social theory had relatively little to say about women or gender (although see Bourdieu, 2001) with most of his writings framed preeminently in terms of issues of class (Moi, 1991). Yet the premise of this volume is that this substantive omission should not be taken to mean that Bourdieu's theoretical apparatus does not necessarily have relevance for feminism. Other key contemporary social theorists such as Foucault and Habermas have alsosubstantively speaking -had little to say about women and gender or indeed feminism but this, of course, has not stopped feminists deploying, rethinking and critically developing the theoretical resources offered by these theorists to produce some of the most influential, compelling and productive forms of contemporary feminist theorizing (see eg Butler, 1993;Fraser, 1997). In this volume contributors will use, critique, critically extend and develop Bourdieu's social theory to address some of the most pressing issues of our times. And in so doing they will address both ongoing and key contemporary problematics in contemporary feminist theory. These include the problematic of theorizing social agency (and especially the problematic of social versus performative agency); the issue of the relationship of social movements (and especially women's movements) to social change; the politics of cultural authorization; the theorization of technological forms of embodiment (that is the theorization of embodiment post bounded conceptions of the body); the relations of affect to the political; and the articulation of principles of what might be termed a new feminist materialism which goes beyond Bourdieu's own social logics.In critically extending Bourdieu's social theory to illuminate contemporary socio-cultural issues, the contributors in this volume therefore attest to the powerful tools that Bourdieu's social theory may offer contemporary feminist theory, tools which are increasingly recognized by feminists working across both the humanities and social science disciplines (

Women and higher education: perspectives of middle-class, mother–daughter dyads

“…Discourse surrounding class and social factors that may affect the ability to attend university is explored through Bourdieusian perspectives of habitus, field and the possession of capital Passeron 1977, 1979;Bourdieu 2006). Although Adkins (2004) points out that Bourdieu had little to say about women or gender, Bourdieusian theory is increasingly used to re-think feminist theory (Skeggs 1997). Reay (2004b) considers the relationality between the emotional work of middle-class mothering and financial support to increase educational outcomes, developing the concept that simultaneous investment provides academic profit (Bourdieu and Passeron 1977).…”

Theorizing emotional capital

“…Bourdieu's theory has been criticized as circular and deterministic (Jenkins 1982;King 2000;Swartz 1997) as well as insufficiently attentive to inequalities beyond class, such as gender (Adkins 2004;Skeggs 2004) and race (Emirbayer and Desmond 2012). While his grand theory is beyond the scope of the current analysis, critiques of the Bourdieuian actor as overly-determined highlight the utility of clarifying capital's dynamic yet fixed nature-clarity, I argue, offered in distinguishing between capital gained in primary socialization versus capital acquired through secondary socialization sources such as occupations.…”

‘Becoming more of myself’: Safe sensuality, salsa and ageing

“…Although Bourdieu has been criticised for not paying enough attention to gender until relatively late in his career, gender is one facet of social life that the habitus helps to understand, and has been developed and operationalised as such by feminist theorists (Adkins 2004). The habitus as conceptualised by Bourdieu, is the mostly unconscious result of a lifetime of daily physical repetition, that shapes our bodies, tastes and knowledges in context (Bourdieu, 1990).…”