Fields of Recognition: A Dialogue Between Pierre Bourdieu and Axel Honneth

Human Studies - This paper aims to enrich the idea of the institutionalized sphere of recognition developed by Axel Honneth and Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of the “social field” by...     

John Searle and Pierre Bourdieu: Divergent Perspectives on Intentionality and Social Ontology

Despite Searle's claim of theoretical proximity between his concept of the Background and Bourdieu's concept of the habitus, there is at least one substantial difference in the respective ways in which these concepts have been elaborated: the Background is conceived as a nonintentional neurophysiological reality whereas the habitus is fully intentional, or rather constitutes a nonrepresentational level of intentionality completely overlooked from Searle's standpoint. Moreover, each concept implicates a distinct perspective on social reality: the former suggests that significance is superimposed yet essentially external to this reality; the latter indicates that significance is immanent. I elaborate on the comparison between the two concepts/perspectives from different angles in order to highlight the existing differences as well as explore possible underlying affinities, which depend upon reconsidering the conventional understanding of intentionality as an exclusive attribute of mental phenomena. I show that Searle's analysis of the Background is inundated with indications of the undeniably intentional character of something he attempts to define as a nonintentional reality. Finally, I discuss the connection between the immanence of significance in Bourdieu's account of social reality and the conflict-centered orientation of this account. This dimension is noticeably absent from Searle's theorizing of the social.     

Pierre Duhem's the aim and structure of physical theory: A book against conventionalism

I reject the widely held view that Duhem's 1906 book La Théorie physique is a statement of instrumentalistic conventionalism, motivated by the scientific crisis at the end of the nineteenth century. By considering Duhem's historical context I show that his epistemological views were already formed before the crisis occured; that he consistently supported general thermodynamics against the new atomism; and that he rejected the epistemological views of the latter's philosophical supporters. In particular I show that Duhem rejected Poincaré's account of scientific language, Le Roy's view that laws are definitions, and the conventionalist's use of simplicity as the criterion of theory choice. Duhem regarded most theory choices as decidable on empirical grounds, but made historical context the main determining factor in scientific change.     

The cultural theory and model of suicide

A growing body of research has demonstrated important variations in the prevalence, nature, and correlates of suicide across ethnic and sexual minority groups. Despite these developments, existing clinical and research approaches to suicide assessment and prevention have not incorporated cultural variations in any systematic way. In addition, theoretical models of suicide have been largely devoid of cultural influence. The current report presents a comprehensive analysis of literature describing the relationship between cultural factors and suicide in three major ethnic groups (African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos) and LGBTQ¹ sexual minority groups. We utilized an inductive approach to synthesize this variegated body of research into four factors that account for 95% of existing culturally specific risk data: cultural sanctions, idioms of distress, minority stress, and social discord. These four cultural factors are then integrated into a theoretical framework: the Cultural Model of Suicide. Three theoretical principles emerge: (1) culture affects the types of stressors that lead to suicide; (2) cultural meanings associated with stressors and suicide affect the development of suicidal tendencies, one's threshold of tolerance for psychological pain, and subsequent suicidal acts; and (3) culture affects how suicidal thoughts, intent, plans, and attempts are expressed. The Cultural Model of Suicide provides an empirically guided cohesive approach that can inform culturally competent suicide assessment and prevention efforts in future research and clinical practice. Including both ethnic and sexual minorities in our investigations ensures advancement along a multiple identities perspective.     

Critical Legal Studies and argumentation theory

Critical Legal Studies poses a direct and expressed challenge to the basic tenets of American legal education and scholarship. Critical Legal Studies postulates that law is not a scientific exercise involving the application of objective principles, but rather a creative process involving the selection of conflicting rules which has the effect of reinforcing the existing political order. In an effort to explain the contribution of Critical Legal Studies to argumentation theory, this essay briefly discusses the role of legal reasoning in the American legal system, describes and critiques Legal Positivism, lays the intellectual foundation for Critical Legal Studies, and considers the implications that this conception of jurisprudence has for argumentation theory.     

Using cultural theory to analyze psychotherapy

This paper introduces cultural theory, which used to be called Grid-Group theory, as a useful model to provide a basis for ordering research, for understanding face-to-face relationships and linking together various levels of human experience.     

Critical issues in interference theory

Critical issues in the theoretical and experimental analysis of interference processes in retention are reviewed. The evolution of classical two-factor theory is traced, and the strengths and weaknesses of the contemporary version of this p6sition are examined. Recent critiques of Current interference theories by Martin (1971a) and Greeno, James, and Da Polito (1971) are reviewed and examind. New conceptualizations of interference proposed by these authors, which place major emphasis on retrieval dependencies and on the role of encoding and retrieval processes, are considered and evaluated.     

宗教资本:从布迪厄到斯达克

"宗教资本"概念对理性选择理论的发展至关重要,然而,"宗教资本"的诸多定义却常常模糊不清,或脱离于其所源出的知识构架。关于"宗教资本"概念,有两种相互独立发展的理论:其一大致属于欧洲,源自韦伯和布迪厄的研究;其二大致属于美国,源自艾纳孔和斯达克的研究。泰瑞·雷对通过对两种理论的比较研究,进而厘清其理论谱系,仔细考察了宗教资本概念及其衍生概念"灵性资本"的应用和批评,并提出了两个具有独创性的修正概念("制度宗教资本"和"民间宗教资本"),以此解决宗教资本概念在学术著作和文章中所出现的问题。     

The emergence of autobiographical memory: a social cultural developmental theory

The authors present a multicomponent dynamic developmental theory of human autobiographical memory that emerges gradually across the preschool years. The components that contribute to the process of emergence include basic memory abilities, language and narrative, adult memory talk, temporal understanding, and understanding of self and others. The authors review the empirical developmental evidence within each of these components to show how each contributes to the timing, quantity, and quality of personal memories from the early years of life. The authors then consider the relevance of the theory to explanations of childhood amnesia and how the theory accounts for and predicts the complex findings on adults' earliest memories, including individual, gender, and cultural differences.     

Critical reflection in midwifery practice: the protection motivation theory

Background: The aim of this paper is to shed light on the notion of fear and inter-personal working relationships, and to promote safe midwifery practice, by critically reflecting on our practice and being aware of fear appeals and the protection motivation theory (PMT).

Theory: PMT provides a general account of the impact of persuasive communication, emphasising the cognitive processes that mediate behaviour change and questions whether ‘fear appeals’ could influence behaviour. Discussion: It is possible that when a midwife decides on a particular care pathway, she determines the degree and perception of the four elements of the PMT; severity, vulnerability, response-efficacy and self-efficacy. If the midwife decides that both the degree of severity and her perception of vulnerability are high, whereas response and self-efficacy perceptions are low, she will probably decide against her original care pathway. For the PMT to be used safely, an appropriate judgement call is required and is based on full understanding of the situation, effective communication with the multidisciplinary team, full knowledge of the proposed care, and competence and confidence in the proposed care. Conclusion: By critically reflecting on their practice and using the PMT, the author believes that midwives will be able to work in partnership with obstetricians to provide safe and effective care within their sphere of practice and in the absence of fear.     

A reassessment of cultural deviance theory: The use of underclass measures

This paper reassesses Miller's version of cultural deviance theory utilizing underclass measures to define the subculture. Previous research has ignored the potential of underclass measures such as unemployment and welfare status, despite evidence suggesting that such measures are strongly correlated with delinquency. The results in this paper are for the most part consistent with Miller's theory. We find that a number of indicators of subcultural focal concerns are significantly associated with underclass membership. Further, these indicators of focal concerns are also significantly associated with delinquent behavior. However, tests of the socialization process notions implicit in delinquency theories yield results more consistent with social control theory than with cultural deviance theory.     

Experience,action and representations: Critical realism and the enactive theory of vision

This paper defends a dynamic model of the way in which perception is integrated with action, a model I refer to as ‘the navigational account’. According to this account, employing vision and other forms of distance perception, a creature acquires information about its surroundings via the senses, information that enables it to select and navigate routes through its environment, so as to attain objects that satisfy its needs. This form of perceptually guided activity should be distinguished from other kinds of semi-automatic responses to visual stimuli that do not necessarily involve conscious experiences. It essentially involves inner states, which involve both the awareness of phenomenal qualities, and also a representational component. The navigational account is compared here with the enactive approach to perception, which opposes the view that perceptual experiences are inner states. This paper argues that a full account of perception raises a number of different questions. One central explanatory project concerns questions about the kinds of processes that currently enable a creature to identify and respond appropriately to distant objects: the answer, it is argued, lies in acknowledging the role of conscious inner representations in guiding navigational behaviour through complex environments. The fact that perception and action are interdependent does not conflict with the claim that inner representational states comprise an essential stage in visual processing.

Marketing the goods of salvation: Bourdieu on religion

Pierre Bourdieu's work has had a resounding impact on disciplines ranging from linguistics to anthropology to art history to literary criticism. Scholars of religion have, however, been relatively slow to catch on to the theoretical gold mine that academics in other fields have discovered in Bourdieu's work, doubtless in part because Bourdieu himself pays only limited attention to religion. The present article is intended to serve as an introduction to Bourdieu's theory of practice as it applies to his sociological theory of religion, which is especially serviceable for the analysis of the relationship among religion, class and power. Haitian religion and culture are used as a case study in the spirit of Bourdieu's own insistence that theory always be confronted with the substantive and never be exercised in a vacuum.