michael grenfell

Bourdieu once commented that what was needed was a ‘new gaze’ on the social
world – a metanoia. This book describes this view and how to do it. Based on
biographical detail and the socio-political contexts which surrounded him, it sets
out his vision of society and culture.
Grounded on the distinction between traditional and modern worlds, it
shows how ethnographic experience led Bourdieu to an intellectual epiphany.
It demonstrates the growth of his conceptual tools and the emergence of ‘field
theory’ in various contexts: law, religion, fashion, sport, culture, fine art,
philosophy, literature and politics. The book offers an up-to-date, extensive
account of Bourdieu, his work and its significance. It centres on philosophical
questions of social experience and intellectual practice. Based around his
entire oeuvre, it features recent posthumous publications in French, providing
important insights for the first time into his way of viewing the world.
Including issues of the state, neoliberalism and resistance, this book explores
how the social, philosophical and political came together for Bourdieu to shape
how we see ourselves and our place in the contemporary world – a metanoia.
Being both an introductory and advanced text, it is a valuable resource for the
newcomer to Bourdieu as well as the experienced researcher. It will be of interest
to undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers of Bourdieu’s work in the areas of
sociology, media, philosophy, religion, economics, architecture, cultural studies,
education, music, journalism, gender studies, politics, the law, fine arts and
linguistics.

This is a keynote abstract from a publication that deals with issues with respect to the work of the French social theorist Pierre Bourdieu and its relevance to research on language and literacy. The salient trends in Bourdieu's oeuvre are discussed along with the attention required to apply and extend it in current and future research studies.

The French social Pierre Bourdieu became known as a key sociologist of education from the 1970s, contributing seminal books and articles to the “new” sociology of education, which focuses on knowledge formation in the classroom and institutional relations. His own social background was modest, but he rose through the elite French schools to become a leading intellectual in the second half of the 20th century. His early studies dealt with Algeria, which he had experienced at first hand in the 1950s at a time of their war of independence. Issues of education and culture grew out of his field studies and formed the basis of further early work in the 1960s. Subsequently, he developed a wider research corpus, which considered the French state and society as a whole: cultural consumption,, politics, religion, law, economics, literature, art, fashion, media, philosophy.
Bourdieu developed a highly original “theory of practice” and set of conceptual thinking tools: habitus, field, cultural capital. His approach sought to rise above conventional oppositions between subjectivism and objectivism. Structure as both structured and structuring was a central principle to this epistemology.
Early studies of university students focused the role that education played in social class reproduction and the place of language in academic discourse. For him, pedagogy was a form of “symbolic violence,” played out in the differential holdings of “cultural capital” that the students held with respect to each other and the dominant ethos of schooling. He undertook further extensive studies of French higher education and the elite training schools. He was involved in various education review committees and put forward a number of principles for change in curricula, all while accepting that genuine reform was extremely challenging. He catalogued some of the tensions and conflicts of contemporary education policy. Both his discoveries and conceptual terms still offer researchers powerful tools for analyzing and understanding all national education systems and the particular individual practical contexts within them.

Offering a unique and original perspective on Bourdieu, language-based
ethnographies and reflexivity, this volume provides a nuanced, in-depth discussion of the complex relationship between these interconnected topics and their impact in real-world contexts. Part I opens the book with an overview of the historical background and development of language-based ethnographic research and Bourdieu’s work in this space. Part II presents a series of case studies that highlight a Bourdieusian perspective and demonstrate how reflexivity impacts on language-based ethnography. In each study, Bourdieu’s conceptual framework of reflexively-informed objectivity examines the ways in which the studies themselves were constructed and understood. Building on Parts I and II, the concluding set of chapters in Part III unpack the messiness of the theory and practice of language-based ethnography, and provides insights into what reflexivity means for Bourdieu in practical contexts. Arguing for a greater reflexive understanding in research practice, this volume sets an agenda for future literacy and language research.

This chapter addresses reflexivity and method in employing Bourdieu’s theory of practice. It is set in an historical and conceptual context, showing how an initial epistemological vision on Bourdieu’s part was actualized in practice, and in which a range of conceptual tools were developed as a logical necessity. The resultant methodology and concepts are examined in terms of the language in which they are expressed, leading to a consideration of the relationship between research subject and object. Elements of reflexivity are explored, how operationalized and the status of the resultant knowledge. The chapter is offered as an ‘Afterword’ to the rest of the book; as a way of evaluating their use of Bourdieu and the potential future areas of research from this perspective

"In this timely book, the authors offer a wide-ranging view of language learner strategies. They not only provide theoretical insights by relating strategies to evolving methods and principles of language teaching, but they also give fascinating examples of learner strategies projects conducted in classrooms. The book's consideration of the role of context in the deployment of language learner strategies, and its attention to strategies employed by bilingual learners are especially valuable. I'm sure it will be of interest to a range of readers, including teachers, teacher educators and researchers." Suzanne Graham, Professor of Language and Education, University of Reading, UK 20% off with this flyer! Paperback | 272 pp | October 2017 | 9781474264136 | £28.99 £23.19 Language Learner Strategies combines principles with research and classroom practice, providing a new view of language learning to inform policy and teaching methodology. Divided into three parts, the book draws links between language learning theory in the established research literature, the authors' own empirical studies and the implications for curriculum policy and teacher education. The book addresses issues that to date have not been fully explored including the strategies of the 12-15 year old age range learning Modern Languages such as French, German, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. A special focus is given to the sociocultural aspects of learner strategies and their link with psychological contexts in which they are used. The authors explore the cognitive turn in language learner strategy research and the practical teaching approaches it helps to develop. It sets a future agenda for learner strategy research and classroom practice.

This is chapter 14 from the book:
Rethinking Economics: Exploring the Work of Pierre Bourdieu.
Edited by Asimina Christoforou and Michael Laine
(Routledge, 2014)
It is a translation of Pierre Bourdieu's paper: Avenir de classe et causalité du probable in Revue française de sociologie, 1974, 15(1), 3-42.

This chapter focuses on the relationship between Irish Higher Education and the state. In order to do this, it will employ a theoretical perspective developed and applied by the French Social Philosopher, Pierre Bourdieu (for example, Homo Academicus 1984, and La Noblesse D’Etat 1989). The development of the state-HE relationship will therefore be considered through the lens of Bourdieu’s theory of practice. The chapter will look at the Irish Education system in as a field in which various institutions are placed in terms of their position within it. Such positionings defines the field of operations of individual locales. Field position will be examined from both a socio-cultural and socio-historical perspective. This discussion will draw out the institutional habitus of different HE colleges, and the associated capitals – economic, social and cultural.

This analysis will be used as a point of investigation in illuminating a range of Irish HE policies in recent years. The chapter will consider such themes as temporal and scientific power, and the way state policy has intervened to shift the balance of traditional relations both within HE institutions, between them, and crucially, between them and the state. Essentially this will be an analysis of the culture of Higher Education in Ireland and the part that the State has played in shaping and reshaping it. The chapter also draws on legitimation code theory. In this way a picture will be built up of both the macro structural connections between the state and the Higher Education field. Change will also be expressed in terms of such structural changes, along with illustration of the resultant effects at a micro-level. A comparative approach will be taken in contrasting the Irish situation with HE systems in countries such as France, UK, and USA.  The chapter seeks to demonstrate the particularity of Irish HE whilst showing its progressive adoption of international ‘norms’ in terms of management, funding, research assessment, and quality assurance. The chapter ends with a discussion of the effects of these shifts on state-HE relations for both providers and ‘clients’.

Pierre Bourdieu is now recognized as one of the key contemporary critics of culture and the visual arts. Art Rules analyses Bourdieu’s work on the visual arts to provide the first overview of his theory of culture and aesthetics.

Bourdieu's engagement with both postmodernism and the ‘problem of aesthetics’ provides a new way of analysing the visual arts. His interest is in how artistic fields function and the implications their processes have for art and artistic practice.

Art Rules applies Bourdieu's theory of practice to the three fields of museums, photography and painting. These practical examples are used as a springboard to address visual arts in the 21st Century and to establish Bourdieu's ‘Rules of Art’.



“This book will change the ways in which Bourdieu is used in cultural studies and the sociology of aesthetics – it makes The Rules of Art and Bourdieu’s books on photography as important as Distinction in those fields.  Offering a clear and concise analysis of Bourdieu’s works on aesthetics and sociology, Art Rules goes beyond to provide Bourdieu-inspired assessments of cultural production and consumption.”
Dan Schubert, Dept. of Sociology, Dickinson College, USA

“A lively and forceful book, which will provide a good introduction to Bourdieu for sociology and art history students.”
Peter Collier, Cambridge University

Interview with Michael Grenfell, Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Southampton, in which we discuss several aspects of his work and also Pierre Bourdieu's, with whom Grenfell worked in the 1980s. The need for a more careful appreciation and application of Bourdieu's approach is emphasized, taking into account also his philosophical project of offering a conversion of the worldview-a metanoia-for researchers attentive to questions of reflexivity. We also talk about the necessary adaptations in order to apply the theory of practice to our 21stcentury world.

DISTINÇÕES NA FILOSOFIA DE BOURDIEU: UMA ENTREVISTA COM MICHAEL GRENFELL
RESUMO:  Entrevista  com  Michael  Grenfell,  Professor  Emérito  de  Educação  na  Universidade  de  Southampton,  em  que  se  discute  vários  aspectos  de  seu  trabalho  e  da  obra de Pierre Bourdieu, com quem Grenfell trabalhou na década de 1980. Enfatiza-se a necessidade de uma apreciação e aplicação mais cuidadosa da abordagem bourdieusiana, que leve em conta também seu projeto filosófico de oferecer uma conversão da visão de mundo — uma metanoia — da parte dos pesquisadores atentos a questões de reflexividade. Também  se  conversa  sobre  as  adaptações  necessárias  para  aplicar  a  teoria  da  prática  a  nosso mundo do século XXI.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Pierre Bourdieu. Reflexividade. Teoria da prática.

DISTINCTIONS IN BOURDIEU’S PHILOSOPHY: AN INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL GRENFELLABSTRACT:
Interview with Michael Grenfell, Emeritus Professor of  Education at the University  of  Southampton,  in  which  we  discuss  several  aspects  of  his  work  and  also  Pierre Bourdieu’s, with whom Grenfell worked in the 1980s. The need for a more careful appreciation and application of  Bourdieu’s approach is emphasized, taking into account also  his  philosophical  project  of  offering  a  conversion  of  the  worldview  —  a  metanoia— for researchers attentive to questions of reflexivity. We also talk about the necessary adaptations in order to apply the theory of  practice to our 21st century world.

KEYWORDS: Pierre Bourdieu. Reflexivity. Theory of practice.1 Pós-doutor em Sociologia pela Universidade de São Paulo. E-mail: frrs@usp.br. Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2006-754X.DOI 10.20396

Questo volume offre una guida completa al “Profilo Europeo per la Formazione dei Docenti di Lingue Un Quadro di Riferimento”, delineando nei dettagli ogni argomento e presentando una serie di strategie per la sua implementazione e applicazione pratica. Il Profilo è stato sviluppato da un gruppo di esperti dell’Università di Southampton (UK), diretti da Michael Kelly e Michael Grenfell, con il sostegno della Commissione Europea e con la consulenza di un gruppo internazionale di formatori. I risultati descritti sono stati ottenuti grazie a una serie di programmi di formazione dei docenti realizzati in vari Paesi d’Europa. Il Profilo si basa sulle conclusioni di un precedente rapporto dal titolo “La formazione dei Docenti di lingue Straniera: sviluppi in Europa”, che esamina l’attuale formazione dei docenti di lingue in 32 Paesi e mette in luce la necessità di sviluppare una piattaforma comune per condividere la comprensione dei fenomeni e la terminologia specifica di questo settore. Il Profilo presenta un elenco di 40 punti che potrebbero essere inclusi in un programma di formazione dei docenti allo scopo di fornire ai docenti di lingue le abilità e le conoscenze necessarie, oltre ad altre competenze professionali, per valorizzare il proprio sviluppo professionale e per favorire la trasparenza e la spendibilità dei propri titoli.

This paper addresses the relationship between bilingual students and their use of language learning strategies (LLS) across their first (L1), second (L2) and third languages (L3). There is a long research tradition in studying bilingual learners from a range of perspectives: ...

This paper addresses the relationship between bilingual students and their use of second language learning strategies (LLS). There is a long research tradition in studying bilingual learners from a range of perspectives: social-psychological, sociological, ethnographic, etc. Similarly, ...

Pierre Bourdieu is one of the key social theorists of the century. For the past forty years his many publications have defined a new approach to the study of such diverse fields as Education, Political Science, Cultural Studies, Gender, Sport, Language and the Media. There have been many commentaries on his work. This book is the first to offer a number of empirical studies conducted by researchers working with his ideas.

ABSTRACT This article seeks to develop the research agenda of multilingualism and multicompetence by bringing together three research fields and their related methodologies: bilingualism, third language acquisition and language learner strategies. After a brief introduction to each area, it describes a study to explore whether bilingual adolescent students learning French in two London schools outperform their monolingual peers in reading and listening comprehension. The significant difference in bilinguals students’ listening comprehension test scores leads to in-depth analysis of qualitative data of three case study students in order to identify the differential features involved in the interaction of the languages. It appears that their greater use of oral/aural strategies is developed through the home environment; code-switching in the parental input fostering the development of the strategies. The article concludes with implications for pedagogy and for research.

(The authors of the following article are currently involved as teacher trainers in modern languages. As such, they are concerned with classroom methodology in language learning and teaching. The article arises both from reflections on readings and direct experience in ...

Pierre Bourdieu is now regarded as one of the foremost social philosophers of the twentieth century. Born in a small village in the French Pyrenees, his extraordinary academic trajectory took him to the leading academic training schools of Paris. Eventually, he was nominated as ‘Chair’ at the College de France; that most prestigious institution which groups together just 52 of leading French academics, philosophers and scientists. Bourdieu’s output was voluminous. Beginning with ethnographies of the Bearn and Algeria he went on to offer extensive studies of education, culture, art, and language. For much of this time, Bourdieu was regarded as a sociologist, and he had a major influence in this academic field. However, increasingly he became a public figure rivalling the reputations of such writers as Sartre, de Beauvoir, and Foucault as the ‘public intellectual’. His interventions in politics became more frequent and he took up with a number of pressure groups in mounting what he ca...

This article seeks to develop the research agenda of multilingualism and multicompetence by bringing together three research fields and their related methodologies: bilingualism, third language acquisition and language learner strategies. After a brief introduction to each area, it describes a study to explore whether bilingual adolescent students learning French in two London schools outperform their monolingual peers in reading and listening comprehension. The significant difference in bilinguals students’ listening comprehension test scores leads to in-depth analysis of qualitative data of three case study students in order to identify the differential features involved in the interaction of the languages. It appears that their greater use of oral/aural strategies is developed through the home environment; code-switching in the parental input fostering the development of the strategies. The article concludes with implications for pedagogy and for research.

ABSTRACT A combination of powerful political and economic factors has led to increasing interest in learning languages such as Mandarin Chinese and those of the Indian sub-continent. A particular challenge for those from an alphabet-based background can be learning the different script. Whilst there has been considerable research into the strategies adult students use to learn English and other European languages, less is known about learning Mandarin Chinese, and more specifically about the strategies beginner students use to tackle memorising the characters. This paper reports on a study of students aged between 11 and 15 years learning Chinese as a foreign language in an inner London school. Drawing on the results of a ‘think-aloud’ activity carried out with 10 students, a questionnaire was administered to 190 students to indicate their strategy use. The findings show that as well as using ‘generic’ strategies, common to learning any language, students develop Mandarin-specific strategies. Principal axis factor analysis suggests that the beginner-students sift through their prior knowledge to identify a ‘tag’ to memorising the characters. A focus on the shapes in the character as a whole as well as on its individual components constitutes a necessary starting point for this process. The effort involved can, however, leave little cognitive space for the deployment of time-consuming but higher level strategies. The article ends by addressing some pedagogical implications.

(The authors of the following article are currently involved as teacher trainers in modern languages. As such, they are concerned with classroom methodology in language learning and teaching. The article arises both from reflections on readings and direct experience in ...

Recent years have seen increased interest in the work of the British surrealist painter Ithell Colquhoun
(1906–1988). This interest has been led by two constituencies: one feminist and the other esoteric. Both match
dispositional characteristics of her work and address its significance within national and internal Surrealist
movements. Rather than focus on feminist critiques or esoteric appraisals of Colquhoun, this article bases itself on the
sociocultural aspects of her life and works. It builds on other studies from the author, which have employed the
methodology developed by the French sociocultural theorist Pierre Bourdieu to the art “field.” Issues of research
object construction are to the fore, together with analyses of the art and esoteric “fields” that involved Colquhoun. The
article presents Colquhoun’s empirical biography (“habitus”), the networks she formed, and their relationship with the
dominant “field” of cultural reproduction. Critical moments in her life trajectories are explored, detailing the breadth
and focus of her influence with respect to the “Capitals”—“Social,” “Cultural,” and “Economic”—these levels of
activities involved. Such analyses are set against exemplars from her painting as a way to compare the development of
an esoteric aesthetic with her biographical experience. Issues of the artistic avant-gardes are also considered and
exemplified in her case. The article seeks to develop an understanding of the expressive impulse as it is manifested in
transhistoric fields and the necessity of human creativity immanent within them.

As ideias do sociólogo francês Pierre Bourdieu são hoje utilizadas em várias áreas disciplinares e em muitos projetos diversos. Como resultado, seus métodos e concei-tos são empregados num conjunto de utilizações muito amplo. Neste artigo, quero voltar a questões de método; em particular, a força e a integridade dos conceitos que ele oferece e o que significa utilizá-los. Faço isso analisando sua origem e questões de linguagem entre teoria e prática ao se trabalhar com eles. O artigo reflete sobre a teoria do campo na prática e, com efeito, sobre o que a reflexividade significa dentro dela – e em seus termos. i Para nós que trabalhamos com Bourdieu e seus métodos – já há algumas décadas – um dos principais aspectos que essa atividade precisou enfrentar é o modo como a proeminência de suas ideias cresceu durante esse tempo, e com ela também uma pro-liferação de adaptações ou " extensões " delas. É claro que, de muitas formas, isso deve ser celebrado e testemunha o valor da obra. Entretanto, quero revisitar o contexto original de suas ideias, como elas surgiram, e as implicações que isso tem para nosso próprio trabalho com elas em termos de reflexividade e método. * Universidade de Southampton (Reino Unido).

The word ‘carnival’ pivots at a point of lexical association between the old and the new. Often
used synonymously with such words as festival, fiesta, feast, gathering, celebration, fair,
procession and party, it nevertheless retains an archaic sense of a bygone era when the social
function of such events were more ritualised and community based. That world is clearly the
source of Mikhail Bakhtin’s understanding of the word when he puts forward the notion of the
carnivalesque in literature as a form, which subverts the predominant literary mode with its chaotic
and humoristic asides, undermining the natural authority of the text. In former times, carnivals
were often held at key points in the year’s cycle—both Christian and pagan (Christmas, Easter)—
and included aspects of the ritualistic and syncretic pageantry. At such times, issues of life and
death, fertility, and social cleansing held the past, present and future in balance; no wonder
‘laughter’ is central to carnival involvement—what Bakhtin saw as the assertion of ‘truth over
power’—for one point in time and space at least.
If aspects of the sacred and the profane are central to ‘carnival’, it follows that so are the social
and the spiritual and, with these, the individual and society at large; part of the appeal of literature
of course, being that it puts a structural mirror to the mind so that both can be viewed, together
and separate, depending on what ‘perspective’ one takes. Bakhtin holds a consecrated and
legitimated position within the intellectual field as a literary theorist. His ideas have been adopted
by researchers looking for a more social interpretation of literature. Normally, we might say that
the social and the aesthetic are antithetical. Bourdieu begins his account of the ‘rules of art’ (1996)
by anticipating the screams of protest that will be heard when we put the ‘love of art’ under a
sociologist’s ‘scalpel’ (xvi) that might thus lead to denial of the singularity of the reader, the place
to which art leads them, and thus the autonomy of the text.
In this article, I consider aesthetic experience based around literary texts in the light of the
deployment of ideas derived from Bakhtin and Bourdieu. In so doing, Carnival will act as an
‘illuminatory’ context in which I can plant a discussion which teases out the relationship between
individual aesthetic experience and the social world in which it is instantiated. In so doing, I hope
to draw attention to the significance of the ‘margins’ of creative texts (ibid.) (what Schopenhauer
called the parerga et paralipmena) in their production and consumption. I commence by
considering a particular strong version of the literary experience, before sketching an account of
aesthetics themselves. I then consider language and a theory of language, both in terms of literary
text and conceptual terms which may be brought to bear on them. I return to carnival as a
preliminary exploration of it in these terms and contrasting Bourdieu and Bakhtin. Towards the
end of his career, Bourdieu spoke about the potential of his tools of analysis for artists and writers
(2016/01). Finally, therefore, I end with a few preliminary remarks about what this might mean for
those producing literary works of art.

It seems there was comparatively little discussion of the work of the British surrealist painter Ithell Colquhoun during her lifetime, or in the immediate decades following her death in 1988 (although see Ades, 1980). More recently, however, her work has been subject to comprehensive cataloguing (Shillitoe, 2009) and has attracted considerable attention from both feminist scholars (Ferentinou, 2011, Stevens, 2016) and those involved in esoteric studies similar to her own (Ratcliffe, 2007, Nichols, 2007).  Such interest has led to a small but deeper understanding of her work, its significance and place within the national and international Surrealist movements, and the ideas and experiences, which gave rise to it.

This paper, rather than focus on feminist critiques and esoteric appraisals of Colquhoun, bases itself on the socio-cultural aspects of her life and works. It builds on other studies, which have employed the methodology developed by the French socio-cultural theorist Pierre Bourdieu to the art field (Grenfell and Hardy, 2006, 2007, 2010).

Issues of research object construction and reflexivity are therefore to the fore, together with field analyses, which scope both Colquhoun’s empirical biography (habitus) and the networks she formed (field), together with their relationship to the dominant field of cultural reproduction (Grenfell, 2012, 2014). I shall offer network analysis of her field of activities, both within artistic and esoteric communities. The paper presents synchronic accounts of Colquhoun at ‘critical moments’ within her life trajectories, detailing the breadth and focus of her influence with respect to the capitals – social, cultural and economic – these levels of activities involved.

Such analyses are set against exemplars from her painting as a way to compare the development of an esoteric aesthetic with her biographical experience. In particular, I am interested in the provenance and destiny of avant-gardes, especially those apparently at their margins. The account challenges conventional narratives of her work but does not oppose them. Rather it seeks to demonstrate the relationship between personal creative aesthetics and the social conditions of their production in order to target a reflexive understanding of the expressive impulse as it is manifested in trans-historic fields and the necessity of human creativity immanent within them.


Refs

Ades, D (1980) ‘Notes on two Surrealist Painters: Eileen Agar and Ithell Colquhoun’, Oxford Art Journal, 3, 1, 36-42.

Ferentinou, V (2011) ‘Ithell Colquhoun, Surrealism and the Occult’, Papers of Surrealism, Issue 9, London: University of Essex.

Grenfell, M (2012) - Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts (2nd Edition). Stockfield: Acumen, 248 pp.

- (2014) - Bourdieu and Data Analysis: Methodological Principles and Practice. Bern: Lang, 333pp.

Grenfell, M and Hardy, C (2006) ‘When Two Fields Collide: St Ives and the Making of an Artistic Avant-garde’, The International Journal of the Arts in Society, 1, 2, pp. 77-85.

- (2010) ‘Snaps! Bourdieu and the Field of Photographic Art’, International Journal of Arts in Society, 5, 1, pp.  49-62.

- (2013) 'Field Manoeuvres: Bourdieu and the Young British Artists', Space and Culture, pp. 19- 34.

- (2007) Art Rules: Bourdieu and the Visual Arts. London: Berg Publications, 212 pp.

Nichols, S (2007) The Magical Writings of Ithell Colquhoun. Lulu Entreprises.

Ratcliffe, E (2007) Ithell Colquhoun: Pioneer, Surrealist Artist, Occultist, Writer and Poet. Oxford: Mandrake.

Stevens, A (2016) ‘How and in what ways did the work of female artists significantly subvert the Surrealist male discourse during the period 1935-45: with primary reference to the work of Ithell Colquhoun and Leonora Carrington’, Thesis awarded for the degree of MA in Art History, University of Falmouth.

Shillitoe, R (2009) Ithell Colquhoun: Magician Born in Nature. Lulu Enterprises.

..................................................................             
Professor Michael Grenfell
The Southampton Education School
Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences
University of Southampton
Highfield
Southampton
SO171BJ

E-mail: grenfell@soton.ac.uk

https://soton.academia.edu/michaelgrenfell

Bourdieu’s Reflexive Objectivity – How to do it!
Michael Grenfell, University of Southampton.

In this paper, I shall draw together a number of elements of Bourdieu’s theory of practice – both philosophical and methodological – in order to elucidate various epistemological issues with respect to knowledge and understanding arising from our experiences of attempting research from this perspective. This project necessitates a return to Bourdieu’s own formative influences and the ways by which philosophies were embedded in practice. The special nature of reflexivity, as developed by Bourdieu, is considered, which in turn entails questions of biography, participation, and the critical discourse of scientific communities. Subjective objectivity and objective subjectivity – I show what it is to ‘think in these terms’ and go beyond them. What is this metanoia that Bourdieu urges us to adopt? How do we do it, and why should we? The answer to these questions is not complex. However, it does require the synthesis of a range of ‘in-sights’, including philosophy, politics and ethics. The paper challenges segmented readings of Bourdieu, and encourages us to go ‘beyond the fields we know’ in the way we make use of the tools and techniques with which he has left us.

Abstract: This paper reports on an action research project designed to develop skills in musical performance pedagogy. The subjects were a group of undergraduate students enrolled in a degree course which included developing vocal and instrumental competence alongside training as music teachers. Despite this being a highly selective course and the level of musicianship high, it had been noted that students’ stagecraft was lacking. The situation was deemed unsatisfactory, as the participants would soon be working in schools where they would be expected to work with pupils in setting up musical performance. The project organised a series of lunchtime concerts staged within the university. These events were used to raise issues of performance management, both physical (space, audience, etc.) and aesthetic (musicality, etc.), and to prepare students in both group and solo contexts. Inputs were made to highlight key principles of performance. The students also kept reflective logs of their experience. A major aim of the research was to address musical principles and practice as a focus for pedagogy. The paper reports on the outcomes of the project in terms of participant experience and the theoretical framing for the study. It also outlines the principal components of performance pedagogy for development in future pedagogical contexts.
Keywords: Music Education, Performance Pedagogy, Reflective Practice

The article reports on a study of methodological innovation involving Occupational Therapy (OT) students in higher education. It is based on an original project which examined the experiences and outcomes of non-traditional entrants to pre-registration OT education.

A feature of the original project was the application of the epistemological and methodological approach of the French social theorist Pierre Bourdieu, most noticeably in exploring the way that social back ground (habitus) interacted with the educational (field) context, in terms of experience and educational outcome.

Bourdieu used a ranged of techniques – both qualitative and quantitative - in collecting and analysing data. In particular, he used Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA), a type of geometric data analysis recognised as a powerful tool enabling the representation of social space and the situating of individuals within it with respect to a number of variables.

The paper considers methodological principles in comparing ethnographic, traditional statistics and MCA. We show how the original data were re-analysed according to MCA. The article compares the original analyses and findings with those based on MCA in order to explore its strength over the previous approach and the potential it has to cast light on various issues in higher education.

This article forms part of an ongoing body of work where the authors apply the theoretical
perspective and conceptual approach of the French social theorist Pierre Bourdieu to a range of
artistic field contexts (see, for example, Grenfell and Hardy 2003), Grenfell & Hardy 2007, Hardy &
Grenfell 2006, and Hardy 2009). These studies have employed Bourdieu’s three-level approach to
field analysis in order to tease out the relationship between individual artists’ practice, their immediate
cultural environment and relations to other fields such the political and commercial. In the current
article, we address the field of photography; in particular focussing on the relationship between the
photographic field, its legitimate institutions and its agents, and photographers themselves. First, the
article briefly addresses Bourdieu’s ‘thinking tools’. It then considers some of his own photographs
and their relationships to the context of Algeria and Béarn in late 1950s in order to show how photography
featured in his own work and his studies of the photographic field. We do this to set a methodological
baseline. The case of Roger Fenton, an early British pioneer in photography, is then discussed
in order to demonstrate how individual habitus, field context and photographic image are intimately
linked. Finally, we offer further examples of C20 photographers in order to extend the exploration of
the relationship between their lived experiences, the photographs they took and the social and political
context of the time.

... This lack of identity has been used in recent times to argue for a school-based approach to training, for the authenticity of practice over ... The field has been restructured, the discursive spaces redefined, to which individual pedagogic habitus responds differently ... Page 15. Bourdieu

This article addresses language learner strategy research in the context of second language learning and teaching in the UK. It arises from two sources: firstly, a personal background in research and writing about language learner strategy research in the context of modern foreign ...

This paper addresses the relationship between bilingual students and their use of second language learning strategies (LLS). There is a long research tradition in studying bilingual learners from a range of perspectives: social-psychological, sociological, ethnographic, etc. Similarly, ...

No modern language teacher, researcher or policy-maker needs to be reminded of the enormous changes that have taken place in modern foreign language teaching and learning over recent decades. We have gone from a world of translation and grammar to one of the ...