critical evaluations of his work, notably papers by Rodney Benson, 4 Rogers Brubaker, Nick Crossley, and John Myles. Indeed, it is the 1985 article by Rogers Brubaker that can truly be said to have served as one of the best introductions to Bourdieu's thought for the American social scienti?c public. It is for this reason that we include it in the present collection. Intellectual origins & orientations We begin by providing an overview of Bourdieu's life as a scholar and a public intellectual. The numerous obituaries and memorial tributes that have appeared following Bourdieu's untimely death have revealed something of his life and career, but few have stressed the intersection of his social origins, career trajectory, and public intellectual life with the changing political and social context of France. This is precisely what David Swartz's "In memoriam" attempts to accomplish. In it he emphasizes the coincidence of Bourdieu's young and later adulthood with the period of decolonization, the May 1968 French university crisis, the opening up of France to privatization of many domains previously entrusted to the state (l'état providence), and, most threatening to post-World War II reforms, the emergence of globalization as the hegemonic structure of the 21st century. An orienting theme throughout Bourdieu's work warns against the partial and fractured views of social reality generated by the fundamental subject/object dichotomy that has plagued social science from its very beginning.

"The most significant French sociologist since Durkheim, Pierre Bourdieu's influence on intellectual life shows no sign of abating. He was a prolific and consequential scholar whose impact can be measured by the Social Science Citation Index and international surveys of academics. Conceptualizations, such as habitus and field, his heuristic treatment of cultural, economic, political, social and symbolic capital to analyze the uses of power, and his insistence upon melding the usually separated micro and macro levels of societal theorizing are now embedded in the basic vocabulary of sociology and anthropology. Whether or not in accord with his outlook, serious scholars are obliged to test themselves against his challenges.Bourdieu also played a considerable role as a public intellectual, taking positions on questions vital to France and to the world more generally. Many of his contributions stem from his important research projects: colonialism, educational inequality, the social foundations of taste in the arts and life styles, social reproduction of status relationships, and more recently, the impact of unchecked globalism on the disadvantaged. The articles in this book represent a sampling of the most recent and durable of the ongoing conversations, debates, and research orientations that Bourdieu launched.This collection offers insight into central features of Bourdieu's sociology as well as examples of original research inspired by Bourdieu's work. It will be of great relevance to students of social theory, French culture and theory, political sociology, sociology of culture and education.This volume is based in large part on a special issue of the journal Theory and Society [The sociology of Symbolic Power: A Special Issue in Memory of Pierre Bourdieu] edited by David L. Swartz, with the editorial collaboration of Vera L. Zolberg Vol. 332/5-6 (December 2003) Kluwer Academic Publishers. TOC:Introduction: Drawing Inspiration from Bourdieu/David L. Swartz and Vera L. Zolberg.- Intellectual Origins & Orientations.- Culture and Fields.- Economics as a Cultural and Social Domain.- Culture and Politics."

Introduction: Drawing inspiration from Bourdieu.- Introduction: Drawing inspiration from Bourdieu.- Intellectual Origins & Orientations.- In memoriam: Pierre Bourdieu 1930-2002.- Rethinking classical theory.- Pierre Bourdieu and the sociology of religion: A central and peripheral concern.- Pierre Bourdieu: Economic models against economism.- Culture and Fields.- Cultural capital in educational research: A critical assessment.- Forms of politicization in the French literary field.- Media meta-capital: Extending the range of Bourdieu's field theory.- Economics as a Cultural and Social Domain.- Flesh and the free market: (On taking Bourdieu to the options exchange).- On the wealth of nations: Bourdieuconomics and social capital.- Culture and Politics.- Haunted by the specter of communism: Collective identity and resource mobilization in the demise of the Workers Alliance of America.- Bourdieu's political sociology and the politics of European integration.- From critical sociology to public intellectual: Pierre Bourdieu & politics.