French Literature Reviews - 2026

Abecedary of Pierre Bourdieu
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas

Sils Maria Editions
Vrin Editions

Abecedary Collection No. 2:

Abecedary of Pierre Bourdieu
Edited by Jean-Philippe Cazier

Published on February 12, 2007

This issue of our Abecedary collection has two objectives: to provide students and general readers with an initial understanding of Pierre Bourdieu's thought, and to enable researchers to continue their work on or inspired by his oeuvre.

Concepts:
Agent – Algeria – Anthropology – Art – Bachelard (Pierre Bourdieu and Gaston Bachelard) – Goods – Canguilhem (Pierre Bourdieu and Georges Canguilhem) – Capital – Field – Unemployed – Social classes – Body – Critique – Culture – Destiny – Determination – Distinction – Domination – Doxa – Law – Durkheim (Pierre Bourdieu and Émile Durkheim) – School – Economy – Social space – State – Ethnology – Ethos – Foucault (Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault) – Taste – Habitus – Heidegger (Pierre Bourdieu and Martin Heidegger) – Heir – History – Homology – Hysteresis – Ideology – Illusio and libido – Unconscious – Individual – Institutions – Intellectual – Journalism – Language – Lévi-Strauss (Pierre Bourdieu and Claude Lévi-Strauss) – Freedom – Literature – Marx (Pierre Bourdieu and Karl Marx) – Masculine/feminine – Mauss (Pierre Bourdieu and Marcel Mauss) – Merleau-Ponty (Pierre Bourdieu and Maurice Merleau-Ponty) – Misery – Neoliberalism – Participant objectivation – Speech – Phenomenology – Philosophy – Photography – Politics – Power – Practice – Praxeology – Reason – Power relations – Reflexivity – Relations – Social reproduction – Resistance – Sartre (Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Paul Sartre) – Science – Social sciences – Sexuality – Society – Sociology – Strategy – Structuralism – Lifestyle – Subject – Symbolic – Television – Theory – Work – Truth – Violence – Weber (Pierre Bourdieu and Max Weber) – Wittgenstein (Pierre Bourdieu and Ludwig Wittgenstein).

Contributors:
Marlène Benquet – Louis Carré – Hervé Couchot – Michel Daccache – Lydie Daguerre – Christine Détrez – Vincent Dubois – Fabienne Federini – Fabrice Fernandez – Viviana Fridman – Mathieu Hilgers – François Lecointe – Samuel Lézé – Gérard Mauger – Fanny Mazzone – Yves Patte – José Luis Moreno Pestaña – Louis Pinto – Sébastien Roux – Arnaud Saint-Martin – Lionel Thelen.

D/8109/2006/057
ISBN: 2-930242-55-8
BOOKSTORE DISTRIBUTION
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J. VRIN
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222 pages - 22 euros

Already published in this collection: Abecedary of Michel Foucault (ed.: Stéfan Leclercq)

Forthcoming: Abecedary of Jacques Derrida (ed.: Manola Antonioli)
Abecedary of Claude Lévi-Strauss (ed.: Jean-Philippe Cazier)
Abecedary of Martin Heidegger
Abecedary of Asian Philosophies

Pierre Bourdieu remains one of the most influential figures in modern sociology and cultural studies, known for developing key analytical frameworks regarding social stratification, symbolic power, and cultural production. His wide-ranging intellectual output intersects with philosophy, anthropology, and political critique, engaging deeply with the structures that shape institutions, everyday practices, and human agency within contemporary society. This volume is part of an established series of abecedaries published by Sils Maria and Vrin, which provides accessible entries into the complex thought of major twentieth-century thinkers for both students and researchers.

Edited by Jean-Philippe Cazier with contributions from numerous scholars, the book lists terms associated with Bourdieu's oeuvre, ranging from habitus and field to symbolic violence and social reproduction. It also lists entries related to figures such as Marx, Weber, Foucault, and Wittgenstein. Readers interested in French philosophy, sociology, and the reception of Bourdieu's work may find this collaborative reference useful for understanding his core concepts and their ongoing application across the humanities and social sciences.