Distinction. A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste

No judgement of taste is innocent — we are all snobs. Pierre Bourdieu's Distinction brilliantly illuminates the social pretentions of the middle classes in the modern world, focusing on the tastes and preferences of the French bourgeoisie. First published in 1979, the book is at once a vast ethnography of contemporary France and a dissection of the bourgeois mind. In the course of everyday life we constantly choose between what we find aesthetically pleasing, and what we consider tacky, merely trendy, or ugly. Taste is not pure. Bourdieu demonstrates that our different aesthetic choices are all distinctions — that is, choices made in opposition to those made by other classes. This fascinating work argues that the social world functions simultaneously as a system of power relations and as a symbolic system in which minute distinctions of taste become the basis for social judgement.

Details

Type

Book

Place of publication

London

Publisher

Routledge

Year

2010

Number of pages

607 pages

Language

English

ISBN

9780415567886

Open stacks or available on request

Available on request

Illustrations

Yes

Bibliography

No

UDC code and author sign

300.1 Bou

Volumes

1

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