Bourdieu and Adorno: Converging theories of culture and inequality

Autor:	David Gartman
Rok vydání:	2011
Předmět:	History Class (set theory) High culture Sociology and Political Science Inequality media_common.quotation_subject Democracy Epistemology Legitimation Sociology Social science Autonomy Privilege (social inequality) Social structure media_common
Zdroj:	Theory and Society. 41:41-72
ISSN:	1573-7853 0304-2421
DOI:	10.1007/s11186-011-9159-z
Popis:	The theories of Pierre Bourdieu and Theodor Adorno both conceive culture as legitimating the inequalities of modern societies. But they postulate different mechanisms of legitimation. For Bourdieu, modern culture is a class culture, characterized by socially ranked symbolic differences among classes that make some seem superior to others. For Adorno, modern culture is a mass culture, characterized by a socially imposed symbolic unity that obscures class differences behind a facade of leveled democracy. In his later writings, however, Bourdieu’s theory converges with that of Adorno. He too begins to privilege the high culture of intellectuals over mass culture by employing the universal standard of autonomy from economic interests. But there remains one vital difference between these theories. Bourdieu grounds the origins of a critical, autonomous culture in specific social structures, while Adorno grounds it in technology.
Databáze:	OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz:	https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=doi_________::845aa471c972fffa2629f4136839ccc2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-011-9159-z Zobrazit plný text záznamu Full text from SpringerLink