Distinction A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste

No judgement of taste is innocent - we are all snobs. Pierre Bourdieu’s Distinction brilliantly illuminates the social pretentions of the middle classes in the modern world, focusing on the tastes and preferences of the French bourgeoisie. First published in 1979, the book is at once a vast ethnography of contemporary France and a dissection of the bourgeois mind. In the course of everyday life we constantly choose between what we find aesthetically pleasing, and what we consider tacky, merely trendy, or ugly. Taste is not pure. Bourdieu demonstrates that our different aesthetic choices are all distinctions - that is, choices made in opposition to those made by other classes. This fascinating work argues that the social world functions simultaneously as a system of power relations and as a symbolic system in which minute distinctions of taste become the basis for social judgement.

Preface to the English-Language Edition Introduction Part 1: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste 1. The Aristocracy of Culture Part 2: The Economy of Practices 2. The Social Space and its Transformations 3. The Habitus and the Space of Life-Styles 4. The Dynamics of Fields Part 3: Class Tastes and Life-Styles 5. The Sense of Distinction 6. Cultural Good Will 7. The Choice of the Necessary 8. Culture and Politics Conclusion: Classes and Classifications Postscript: Towards a ‘Vulgar’ Critique of ‘Pure’ Critiques Appendices Notes Credits Index

Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002) was one of France’s leading sociologists. Champion of the anti-globalization movement, his work spanned a broad range of subjects, from ethnography to art, and education to television.