The Sociologist as Moraliste : Pierre Bourdieu's Practice of Theory and the French Intellectual Tradition

Abstract

Pierre Bourdieu is increasingly seen by the media in France and abroad as the new French intellectual star, after Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. In the mid-1990s, Bourdieu became a vocal defender of the unemployed on the streets of Paris and a denouncer of neoliberal economic doctrine, a Sartrean intellectual in the full sense of the term. According to most commentators, this shift from the library to the street split Bourdieu's trajectory into one of academic sociologist on the one hand, and public activist on the other. Moral values, which seemed absent from Bourdieu's academic work, have taken a central role in his public activism. It is true that in his theory, strategies of resistance to the rule of the dominant classes reproduce more than challenge domination, creating a bleak picture of social reality. In contrast, in his intellectual activity Bourdieu has practically demonstrated the effectiveness of strategies of resistance to domination and globalization. The separation between contemplation and action, theory and practice, the critique of intellectual power and its application, seems too perfect, however. Instead of emphasizing these dichotomies, I would like to suggest here that a specific moral outlook unites the young and the old Bourdieu. It has always been present in Bourdieu's studies, despite their scientific nature. Republican values enabled Bourdieu to switch from a theory of practice to the practice of theory, revealing in the process the ambiguities and contradictions of both his scientific work and political activism. Theory needs ethical grounding to become practice and scientific legitimacy needs a moral basis to be transformed into symbolic power. After a brief discussion of French intellectual politics, I will examine the moral dimension of Bourdieu's theory--especially his concept of habitus--and of his public activism.