Social Space as a Theory of Society: Scientific Arguments Regarding the Figuration of the Social in Bourdieu’s Distinction

Abstract

At the core of Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological theory lies the notion of ‘social space’, which in Distinction is embodied under the headings ‘the space of social positions’ and ‘the space of life-styles’. Social space is not a product of correspondence analysis, and yet it is deemed to be a true representation of a national society with ‘universal validity’. Contemporary sociology has not tested the scientific foundation of the Bourdieusian social space, or challenged it using contemporary factorial plans for culture practices. The purpose of this article is therefore to examine social space in four steps: (1) review the supposedly factorial character of the ‘social space’ diagram, and basic concepts, such as ‘lifestyle’ and ‘relative structure of the capital’; (2) analyse the representativeness of the ad hoc cultural survey; (3) critique the interpretation of the two ‘variants of tastes’; and (4) rethink the ‘variant of dominant taste’. What we suggest from our findings is that social space should no longer be considered as a well-founded representation of society.