Marx and Bourdieu: From the Economy to the Economies

Abstract

This essay argues that whilst historical materialism strongly inspired Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological perspective it also possesses, at the same time, other intellectual debts and footprints. First of all, the paper briefly notes the international context of the Marx-Bourdieu relation and references this debate in Latin America.

Subsequently, the article presents the central features of the Bourdieusian “economy of practices” pointing out the links to the Marxist perspective and the contribution of other sources such as: the double historicized objectivity; struggle as the engine of social life; capital and capitals; the denial of the economy; the legitimacy of domination and the symbolic violence; and the field as a game space.

Finally, the chapter reasserts the central argument to remember the analytical value of Bourdieu’s economy of practices, a condition we take as a “toolbox.”

The economic is never absent from any field however autonomous—whether the field is religious, juridical or literary. It is present, but it cannot appear in its in own name. This is important: in religion, they don’t speak of the salary of the priest but of ‘offering’.

—Bourdieu (2021: 48)