An Analysis of Pierre Bourdieu's Outline of a Theory of Practice

In Outline of a Theory of Practice, Bourdieu questions the preeminent ideas of social anthropologists such as Levi-Strauss who stressed the structural principles governing human action rather than the actions themselves and, Bourdieu asserts, doesn-t account for all observable nuances of behaviour. Drawing on his fieldwork in Algeria, he expresses the need for a theory of practice focusing on the dynamic flow of human actions in the social world. Bourdieu coins the term -habitus-- a relational concept linking structures to the practice of agents. Outline is a significant and original contribution, providing an account of many of the issues Bourdieu continued to develop through his career.