Pierre Bourdieu
Sociologist: taste is not a natural gift, it comes from upbringing and social class, and it serves to set oneself apart from others.
Life
French sociologist (1930-2002), professor at the Collège de France. He shows that tastes, ways of speaking and school success, which look natural, depend largely on social background. His analyses of domination, education and culture shed light on big questions about freedom, justice and merit.
Main works
Taste, in art as in food, serves to mark one's place in the social hierarchy.
We act from acquired dispositions (habitus), not by rules we calculate.
School favors children of educated classes while appearing to reward merit.
In his own words
« Science consists in doing what one does while knowing and saying that it is all one can do, by stating the limits of the validity of what one does. »
« The euphemisms of orthodox discourse ("simple people", "modest classes") do designate the essential property: submission to the established order. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceOur tastes and choices are largely shaped by the habitus we acquire from our class and upbringing, which leaves limited room for free choice.
Bourdieu, La Distinction (1979)