The sociologist and the state. An assessment of P ierre B ourdieu's sociology

This paper provides an assessment of P ierre B ourdieu's sociology based on a reading of his posthumously published lectures on the state in S ur l' É tat . It argues that the state was a foundational element in B ourdieu's rendition of the symbolic order of everyday life. As such, the state becomes equally pivotal in B ourdieu's sociology, the applicability of which rests on the existence of the state, which stabilizes the social fields and their symbolic action that constitute the object of sociology. The state, which B ourdieu considers a ‘meta'‐ordering principle in social life, ensures that sociology has a well‐ordered object of study, vis‐à‐vis which it can posit itself as ‘meta‐meta’. The state thus functions as an epistemic guarantee in B ourdieu's sociology. A critical analysis of B ourdieu's sociology of the state offers the chance of a more fundamental overall assessment of B ourdieu's conception of sociology that has relevance for any critical sociological perspective that rests on the assumption of a meta‐social entity, such as the state in B ourdieu's work, as a final ordering instance.