The Guardian's leader writer is surely being
perverse (or confused) in taking issue with Nick
Clegg's explanation of having had a lucky
opportunity in life. Nick Clegg* was simply
saying that he was lucky to be born into a
banker's family and thus received a privileged
education from his earliest years. He's in
complete agreement with Pierre Bourdieu's ideas.
(*For those who may not know, I'll mention that
Nick Clegg is the leader of the Lib-Dems and is
the Deputy Prime Minister in the Coalition
Government. If anything, Clegg came from a much wealthier family than Cameron.)
As it happens, I'm also very largely in agreement
with Pierre Bourdieu. His book, Distinction, has
got to be one of the best sociological works of
the last century. His views are an almost direct
extrapolation of Karl Marx's main thesis (that
the main technology of an economy broadly shapes
the class structure) albeit with the interlacing
of much more anthropology than was available to
Marx. For anybody interested in reading more of
Bourdieu, Distinction may prove to be too
abstract to read comfortably. Instead, I'd
recommend David Swartz's account, Culture and
Power. For an even more succinct summary of
Bourdieu's ideas I'll copy a paragraph of the latter book:
<<<<
Culture provides the very grounds for human
communication and interaction; it is also a
source of domination. The arts, science,
religion, indeed all symbolic systems --
including language itself -- not only shape our
understanding of reality and form the basis for
human communication, they also help establish and maintain social hierarchies.
>>>>
Pierre Bourdieu died in 2002. This was just a
little bit too soon for him to have found his
ideas of social hierarchy amply confirmed with
the rapidly expanding fields of epigenetics -- in
this case, that rank ordering in groups
(reflected in individual hormonal levels) can
also be influenced by inheritance, thus having a
predispositional effect from birth before the
other factors he writes about come into play.
Keith
At 05:32 25/05/2012, Mike wrote:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/24/in-praise-of-pierre-bour
dieu
In praise of
Pierre Bourdieu
His analysis of the role of education in the reproduction of social
inequality challenges Nick Clegg's belief that he was 'lucky' in life
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 May 2012 22.05 BST
Pierre Bourdieu's analysis of the role of education in the reproduction of
social inequality challenges Nick Clegg's belief that he was "lucky" in
life. Luck, says the French sociologist, has nothing to do with it. Just 10
years after his death, Mr Bourdieu's work is already a classic to rank
alongside Foucault or Lacan. The recent publication of his courses at the
Collège de France has put his name back into the headlines. In contrast to
those who trumpet self-determination, Mr Bourdieu focuses on the forces
which shape an individual. If Mr Clegg really wants to "factor social
mobility into the education system", he must recognise that the difference
between success and failure is not luck but the ways in which social
inequalities repeat themselves. The role of government is to break this
vicious circle not to reinforce it. The drastic shrinking of the state is
hardly the way to remedy what Mr Clegg called an absolute scandal.
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Keith Hudson, Saltford, England http://allisstatus.wordpress.com
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