Sociologi och epistemologi : om Pierre Bourdieus författarskap och den historiska epistemologin = [Sociology and epistemology] : [on Pierre Bourdieu's work and the historical epistemology]

Sammanfattning: The sociology of Pierre Bourdieu is analyzed from two angles.On the one hand, the development of Bourdieu's methods and key concepts (symbolic capital, cultural capital, habitus, field) is traced back to the problems which he and his collaborators have encountered in their research practice.On the other hand, the relations between Bourdieu's sociology and some pertinent traditions in social science and philosophy are explored. Of special significance are the affinities with the Durkheimians; in contemporary French sociology the Bourdieu school has, in several respects, come to fill the space that was left vacant after the decline of durkheimianism. Bourdieu's sociology is also indebted to the historical epistemology (Gaston Bachelard, Jean Cavaillès, Georges Canguilhem, et al).One main conclusion of the study is that the theory to be found in Bourdieu's sociology is not primarily a general theory of society. It is rather a theory of knowledge, and first and foremost a sociological theory of the formation of sociological knowledge. Within the social sciences Bourdieu's work could be regarded as a counterpart to the historical epistemology within the philosophy of the natural sciences and mathematics.