Bourdieu recontextualized: Redefinitions of western critical thought in the periphery

Abstract

This article analyses the redefinition of global discourse in semi-peripheral settings; it proposes a model for the semi-peripheral recontextualization of critical discourses originating from the western core of the global intellectual system. The process of redefinition of global discourses in semi-peripheral settings appears to involve their parallel appropriation by actors whose positions can be reconstructed through Bourdieu’s field concept, in particular through the usage of his theory of cultural capital in the field of contemporary Polish sociology. The model presented in the article emphasizes a strong homology between the political field and the broader field of social sciences in peripheral countries. It appears that they are usually structured according to specific peripheral pro- vs anti-centre cleavages. Peripheral fields of power, which are organized around this binary logic, tend to produce specific, often contradictory, parallel redefinitions of western critical theory. Meanings become politically defined and distant from their original context. One of the paradoxical effects of these mechanisms is that the concepts which originally emerge as critical theory, in a semi-peripheral context, are often used in legitimization of and as apology for a neoliberal social order.

The persistence of cliques in the post‐communist state. The case of deniability in drug reimbursement policy in Poland

“…The prevalent view on countries such as Poland, Hungary or the Czech Republic holds that they have developed formal institutions similar to their West European neighbours (McMenamin ) and thus can be described with concepts taken from pluralism (Ekiert and Kubik ), historical institutionalism (Grzymała‐Busse ) or elitism (Raciborski ). This position has been disputed by scholars stressing the need for a new vocabulary to capture informal actors and processes permeating post‐communist states (Zybertowicz – for a critical account of this position see Warczok and Zarzycki ). The most influential representative of this academic camp is Janine Wedel, who conducted extensive ethnography of foreign aid in CEE to explore interactions among ‘discourses, actors, and institutions’ (Wedel : 219) shaping the distribution of power in post‐communist society.…”

A escola e as identidades dos alunos do campo: um estudo a partir de Bourdieu e Althusser

“…This study is theoretically based on the contributions of Bourdieu (2004, p. 149), who proposes "constructivist structuralism" which permits the understanding of the existence of "objective structures, independent of consciousness and the will of these agents, which are capable of guiding or coercing their practices and representations," such as, for example, the school. The contributions of Pierre Bourdieu (1930Bourdieu ( -2002 may be identified in the works of Burke (2015) and Edgerton and Roberts (2014) who present the utilization of Bourdieu's reproduction theory to understand educational inequalities, as well as the works of Burawoy (2012), Decoteau (2016), Susen (2014), Warczok and Zarycki (2014) who deal with topics such as symbolic, field and ideological domination. In addition to the idea of reproduction, the constructivist contribution which the author relates to his work makes it possible, through the concepts of habitus and a field, to understand the "social genesis of schemes of perception, thinking and action" (BOURDIEU, 2004, p. 149).…”

Center-periphery tension in the production of the political communication field. The Mexican case

“…The literature regarding scientific production (Connell& Wood, 2002;Beigel, 2014;Hwang, 2008;Miller, 2014 andWarczok &Zarycki, 2014) on the one hand sets out the benefits of the internationalization of scientific production, but on the other hand, it highlights the inequality existing in light of the precarious production in the periphery.…”