Abstract
Abstract. Pierre Bourdieu conceptualizes social action as "instrumental rational". Disinterestedness is only possible as part of an actor's practical logic when the said actor actively or passively misrecognizes underlying interests. In the "logic of logic", this perceived disinterestedness can and must be scientifically reconstructed as a pure economic exchange. Reason-based morality, such as can be found in Kantian philosophy, becomes impossible, and morality becomes an ignored category in Bourdieu's theoretical endeavour. This article's first goal is to locate Bourdieu's approach within moral philosophy, through parallels to Gauthier's Morals by Agreement. An empirical case on water transfers between neighbours in Khartoum reveals the limits of such an approach. This leads to the second goal. By translating Bourdieu's perfect "economy of symbolic goods" into an imperfect one, reason-based morality is integrated into his project, and the relevance of interest for social interaction is curbed, but not denied.
Highlights
Bourdieu’s theory of praxis is not, nor was it intended to be, a central contribution to moral philosophy
By translating Bourdieu’s perfect “economy of symbolic goods” into an imperfect one, reason-based morality is integrated into his project, and the relevance of interest for social interaction is curbed, but not denied
Bourdieu stresses the relevance of social theory’s empirical grounding: “The analysis of structures and ‘mechanisms’ acquires its full explanatory power and descriptive truth only because it includes the results of the analysis of schemata of perception, appreciation, and actions that agents [. . .] make use of in their judgments and practices” (Bourdieu, 1996:1)
Summary
Bourdieu’s theory of praxis is not, nor was it intended to be, a central contribution to moral philosophy. A portion of these free transfers between neighbours cannot be explained by the donors’ conscious or subconscious expectations of compensation with economic, social, or symbolic capital. The second chapter empirically presents the first type and explains how water gifts are motivated by interest in an economy of symbolic goods. This conventional reading of Bourdieu anchors his theory in Moral Philosophy. In the third chapter the second gift transfer is presented and developed as an example of the possibility of disinterested motivation for social action, an empirical critique of the exclusive stewardship of social action by interest. Bourdieu’s “perfect” economy of symbolic goods is transformed into an “imperfect” one
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