The Logic of Practice

This book offers a statement and development of Bourdieu's work in the field of anthropology. Drawing on his own field work as well as a wide range of ethnographic and anthropological texts, Bourdieu unfolds a theoretical perspective which aims to do justice to the practical logic of everyday action as well as the objective structures within which such action takes place. A thorough understanding of practice requires the anthropologist to move beyond objectivism and subjectivism and grasp, by means of the concept of "habitus", the interplay of structures and practices in the ongoing conduct of everyday life. Bourdieu applies his theoretical perspective to the analysis of kinship patterns, the social construction of domestic space, social categories of perception and classification and ritualized actions and exchanges.