Pierre Bourdieu and Epistemic Struggle

Abstract

This Paper Analyzes The Epistemological Construction Of Pierre Bourdieu’s Sociology Through His Critical Dialogues With The Existentialism Of Jean-Paul Sartre And The Structuralism Of Claude Lévi-Strauss. It Is Acknowledged That Both Theoretical Currents Exerted Significant Influence On Bourdieu’s Thought, While Simultaneously Presenting Analytical Limitations For The Understanding Of Social Action. Existentialist Subjectivism, By Emphasizing The Agent’s Freedom And Consciousness, Tends To Disregard The Social And Historical Determinations Of Practices. Structuralism, In Turn, By Privileging Objective Structures, Reduces Agents To Mere Supports Or Carriers Of Structures, Neglecting Their Historicity And Practical Capacity. In Response To This Impasse, Bourdieu Proposes A Dialectical Overcoming Of The Opposition Between Objectivism And Subjectivism Through A Relational Approach That Articulates Both Moments Without Annulling Either. This Proposal Materializes In The Concepts Of Habitus And Field, Which Are Central To His Theory Of Practice. Habitus Refers To A System Of Socially Incorporated, Historically Constituted Dispositions That Orient Agents’ Perceptions, Actions, And Classifications. The Field, In Turn, Designates Social Spaces Structured By Relations Of Force, Within Which Agents Occupy Unequal Positions According To The Differentiated Distribution Of Forms Of Capital. Bourdieu’s Sociology Is Also Grounded In The Notion Of Epistemological Vigilance, Which Requires The Researcher To Adopt A Reflexive Stance Capable Of Breaking With Preconceptions, Immediate Evidence, And Value Judgments, Without Neglecting Empirical Materiality. By Criticizing Both Naive Empiricism And Theory Detached From Research, Bourdieu Defends The Inseparability Of Theory And Empiricism. Thus, His Work Offers An Open, Relational Analytical Model Aimed At Unveiling The Mechanisms Of Domination, Social Reproduction, And Symbolic Struggles That Structure The Social World.