SOURCE: Mesny, Anne. “A View on Bourdieu's Legacy: Sens pratique v. Hysteresis.” Canadian Journal of Sociology 27, no. 1 (winter 2002): 59-67.

In the following essay, Mesny explores the controversy surrounding Bourdieu's intellectual status in France.

1. Introduction

Bourdieu's last publications¹ before his recent death in January have been the object of considerable attention and controversy (Alexander, 2000; Callon, 1999; Critique, 1995; Grignon, 1996; Grumberg & Schweisguth, 1996; Hamel, 1997 & 1998, Magazine Littéraire, 1998; Lahire, 1999; Martucelli, 1999; Mayer, 1995; Mongin & Roman, 1998; Pinto, 1998; Sciences Humaines, 2000; Verdès-Leroux, 1998). The controversy has not always been about Bourdieu's sociological work as such. Rather, it has been about the conciliation between, on one hand, the content of his sociology and, on the other hand, his numerous interventions in the French public and political debate in the past ten years,² and Bourdieu's explicit ambition to embrace the standpoint of the French “intellectuel.”³

The object of this note is not to nourish the French controversy about Bourdieu as an...