For this post, I pulled out the definitive quotations from the text on the main concepts that Bourdieu expresses in “Distinction” which are space and power. These might be renamed “habitus, field, and capital” when we speak of Bourdieu. However, I understand these renamed concepts to be similar to the ideas brought up by other [...]
Erving Goffman addresses the concept of role in “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life” (1959) by examining how individuals “play a role.” He is primarily attempting to answer the question of how reality is constructed. Through a description of role playing, Goffman gives his analysis of how reality is perceived. In this essay, I [...]
Is social life just one big performance in which we are all individual actors? Sub-questions: What is a “real” act versus a phony act? “What are the ways in which a given impression can be discredited?” (pg. 62) Are legitimate performances of everyday life “acted?” Goffman believes not. “The legitimate performances of everyday life are [...]
[page numbers refer to: Calhoun, Craig et al. 2007. Contemporary Sociological Theory (Reader). Malden, MA: Blackwell.] (1) What is the MAIN QUESTION and ARGUMENT? The main question that Peter M. Blau seeks to answer in Exchange and Power in Social Life is – what are the reasons that individuals associate with others to form groups? [...]
