ROMDSEM Reading Bourdieu

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 15 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
doc. José Luis Bellón Aguilera, PhD. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Petr Kyloušek, CSc.
Department of Romance Languages and Literatures – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Romance Languages and Literatures – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Fri 28. 2. 12:00–13:40 G12, Fri 21. 3. 12:00–15:40 G12, Fri 25. 4. 12:00–13:40 G12, Fri 16. 5. 12:00–13:40 G12
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives (in Czech)
To familiarize students with the cited work and Bourdieu's work in general. To guide a careful, critical and detached reading of The Rules of Art, applying it to specific examples from their doctoral theses. To establish the limits of field theory (autonomy and heteronomy).
Learning outcomes (in Czech)
Enlarge the ability to make a comprehensible synthesis of a complex work, key in contemporary sociology.
Syllabus (in Czech)
  • Session 1 [90’]: a) Presentation of the class, postgrad alumni, moderator. Warming up. [15 min] b) Organization of the presentations for each session. [20 min.] c) Introduction to the life and work of Pierre Bourdieu, by moderator and coordinator. [20 min.] Keywords: Sociology of Literature (recom. Sapiro, La sociologie de la literature); Philosophy; Literature; Theory of the Fields. Habitus. Dispositions. Key works: Distinction, The Pascalian Meditations. Recommended: «Critique of Scholastic Reason» (Ch. 1, Pascalian Meditations; refer to Homo Academicus, and Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies). Reading of the master pieces The Political Ontology of Martin Heidegger and Masculine Domination is to be encouraged. Scientific research-action: La misère du monde. b) Introduction to The Rules of Art. [25 min.] PROLOGUE (critical summary by moderator). Focus: Between formalism and sociological materialism; rejection of the mirror theory. Each work requires a combination of external and internal commentary. Sessions 2 [90’] and 3 [90’]: Part I, “Three States of the Field”, pp. 47-175. 1) Pages 47-112 (1. “The Conquest of Autonomy: The Critical Phase in the Emergence of the Field”). 2) Pages 113-140 (2. “The Emergence of a Dualist Structure”) and 141-173 (3. “The Market for Symbolic Goods”) Focus: 1) The constitution of literary fields in Europe, a conquest of creative autonomy. 2) Distinction. Art and Money. Market forces. The field as universe of belief. Session 4 [90’]: Part II, “Foundations of a Science of Works of Art”, 177-282. 1) Pages 177-213 (1. “Questions of Method”). 2) Pages 214-282 (2. “The Author’s Point of View: Some General Properties of Fields of Cultural Production”). Focus: 1) Literary prism. Space of points of view. Avoiding dualisms. 2) Power, field, Space of possibles. Session 5 [90’]: Part III, “To Understand Understanding”, 285-330. DA CAPO Illusio – POSTCRIPT, 331-348. Focus: 1) Radical historicization versus historical amnesia. 2) Universe of belief and game theory. The intellectual as a collective agent against the forces of the market, vindicating the universal. General Discussion. Questions. Conclusions, criticisms (notion of “universal”), etc.,
Literature
    required literature
  • BOURDIEU, Pierre. The rules of art : genesis and structure of the literary field. Translated by Susan Emanuel. First published. Cambridge: Polity, 1996, xviii, 410. ISBN 9780745611525. info
    recommended literature
  • Bourdieu, Pierre, Marie-Claire Bourdieu, and Pascale Casanova. Manet: une révolution symbolique ; cours au Collège de France (1998 - 2000) suivis d’un manuscrit inachevé de Pierre et Marie-Claire Bourdieu. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 2013. Bourdieu, Pierre
  • BOURDIEU, Pierre. Pascalian meditations. Translated by Richard Nice. 1st pub. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000, vii, 256. ISBN 0804733325. info
  • BOURDIEU, Pierre. The political ontology of Martin Heidegger. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1996, viii, 138. ISBN 074561714X. URL info
    not specified
  • Sapiro, Gisèle. La sociologie de la littérature. Repères Sociologie 641. Paris: La Découverte, 2014.
  • COLLINS, Randall. The sociology of philosophies : a global theory of intellectual change. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998, xix, 1098. ISBN 0674001877. info
  • BOURDIEU, Pierre. Distinction : a social critique of the judgement of taste. 1st pub. London: Routledge, 1996, xiv, 613. ISBN 0415045460. info
Teaching methods (in Czech)
Seminar process: a) Presentation by X (student). Max. 25 min. b) General discussion.
Assessment methods (in Czech)
Reading the material, preparing presentations and active discussion.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught annually.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: blok.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2026.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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