Evoking and provoking Bourdieu in educational research

This paper provides an introduction to this special issue of the Cambridge Journal of Education on ‘Evoking and provoking Bourdieu in educational research’. In the course of providing a critical synopsis of each paper, we consider how and why the authors work with and after Bourdieu, both evoking and provoking his thinking tools (particularly field, capital and habitus, but also doxa, misrecognition and illusio) and his methodological disposition that rejects ‘epistemological innocence’. We note that Bourdieu himself invited such provocation and that this is especially needed as the social continues to change, given the new spatialities of globalisation and growing social and economic inequalities. That is, we acknowledge that the empirical and the theoretical are always imbricated in each other, a theme pursued throughout the collection.     

Field theory and educational practice: Bourdieu and the pedagogic qualities of local field positions in educational contexts

Bourdieu’s version of field theory has had an impressive impact on the ways that sociologists of education conceptualize educational practices. These accounts tend to focus on the varying levels of ontological complicity established between students’ cultural dispositions and educational institutions. In this paper, the wisdom of these accounts is acknowledged but it is also suggested that Bourdieu’s field theory does not go far enough to detail the ways that positions in local educational fields embody pedagogic qualities and action trajectories. Drawing on insights from social psychology and relational sociology, a field theory for local educational action is outlined that more adequately accounts for the ways that students and educators directly experience and act upon curricular and pedagogic qualities in educational settings. An empirical example is then offered of the authors’ claims within the context of curricular tracking/streaming, and the article concludes by considering the practical and political consequences of this theoretical shift.     

Globalizing policy sociology in education: working with Bourdieu

This paper uses Bourdieu to develop theorizing about policy processes in education and to extend the policy cycle approach in a time of globalization. Use is made of Bourdieu’s concept of social field and the argument is sustained that in the context of globalization the field of educational policy has reduced autonomy, with enhanced cross‐field effects in educational policy production, particularly from the fields of the economy and journalism. Given the social rather than geographical character of Bourdieu’s concept of social fields, it is also argued that the concept can be, and indeed has to be, stretched beyond the nation to take account of the emergent global policy field in education. Utilizing Bourdieu’s late work on the globalization of the economy through neo‐liberal politics, we argue that a non‐reified account of the emergent global educational policy field can be provided.     

How Bourdieu bites back: recognising misrecognition in education and educational research

Having noted that some use of Bourdieusian concepts in educational research is superficial, this paper offers a view of the distinctiveness of Bourdieu’s concepts via the example of misrecognition, which is differentiated from the concept with the same name in Fraser’s work. An account is given of a recent research project on white middle-class identity and school choice, which suggests that whilst parents avoided a common misrecognition (regarding school quality), they were nevertheless reliant on other forms of misrecognition (regarding the qualities of their children) that are equally important in the relationship between social class and educational inequalities. Finally, the paper suggests that educational understandings, including some educational research, are predisposed to misrecognise Bourdieusian concepts, and four areas of tension are identified. The paper argues against ‘light usage’ of Bourdieu whilst acknowledging that the approach can produce a pessimistic account that is at odds with some educational values.     

The sociology of Pierre Bourdieu and researching education policy

Bourdieu did not write anything explicitly about education policy. Despite this neglect, we agree with van Zanten that his theoretical concepts and methodological approaches can contribute to researching and understanding education policy in the context of globalisation and the economising of it. In applying Bourdieu’s theory and methodology to research in education policy, we focus on developing his work to understand what we call ‘cross‐field effects’ and for exploring the emergence of a ‘global education policy field’. These concepts are derived from some of our recent research concerning globalisation and mediatisation of education policy. The paper considers three separate issues. The first deals with Bourdieu’s primary ‘thinking tools’, namely practice, habitus, capitals and fields and their application to policy studies. The second and third sections consider two additions to Bourdieu’s thinking tools, as a way to reconceptualise the functioning of policy if considered as a social field. More specifically, the second section develops an argument around cross‐field effects, as a way to group together, research and describe policy effects. The third section develops an argument about an emergent global education policy field, and considers ways that such a field affects national education policy fields.     

Historicizing educational disparity: colonial policy and Fijian educational attainment

This paper charts the emergence of community publishing and worker writer groups in England in the early 1970s. These workshops supported working class and marginalized people to express their personal experience through poetry, prose, autobiography and history, a process with significant educational, cultural, political and social implications. From the 1970s these activities developed in a range of settings including schools, adult education and adult literacy as well as community campaigns and the traditional labour movement. In 1976 these groups came together to form the Federation of Worker Writers and Community Publishers. Although it often appears as a unique uprising, the movement drew on a wide range of broader intellectual influences and social movements.     

Revisiting Bourdieu: alternative educational systems in the light of the theory of social and cultural reproduction

The paper reflects upon the principles and practice of an alternative educational system operating in rural Mexico in the light of Bourdieu’s theory of cultural and social reproduction. Bourdieu’s theory seeks to explain processes of reproduction of power relations within schools and society; whereas alternative educational systems seek to expand educational access in deprived areas in order to counteract processes of social inequality. The paper argues that, although Bourdieu’s theory does not fully explain the gradual inclusion of more people from disadvantaged backgrounds into education through alternative educational systems, processes of social reproduction in deprived communities still occur mainly because of lack of state support after primary school level, and a shortage of better infrastructure and opportunities for this sector of the population. Since the widespread upward educational and class mobility of the rural poor has not yet been achieved, the paper concludes that the processes of cultural and social reproduction continue despite the introduction of alternative educational systems.     

International institutions and educational policy: A review of education-sector policy

In 1974, the World Bank published a study entitledEducation Sector Working Paper which set forth its policy in the field of education. This study, the second the Bank had published, was widely read, analysed and discussed for some time after its publication and had a considerable influence on thinking in education and development at the international level. Prospects devoted four articles to the paper: one book review and three controversies (Vol. V, No. 2, 1975, p. 285; Vol. V, No. 4, 1975, p. 457–78; Vol. VI, No. 2, 1976, p. 209–20). Thus, the discussion in our pages, in which the Bank participated, lasted nearly a year.Now the Bank has brought out another eagerly awaited policy paper on education which is to guide its thinking and action in the coming years. Its publication is an event of international importance and its impact will certainly be considerable.The following article by Martin Carnoy is the first in a seriesProspects will publish reviewing the policies of the Bank as expressed in theEducation Sector Working Paper, and by extension, the foreseeable impact of these policies on the world of education in general. Martin Carnoy's paper is critical: readers familiar with his work (seeProspects, Vol. VIII, No. 1, p. 3–19) will know that his viewpoint on the international aspects of education diverges considerably from that of the Bank and of most international governmental and non-governmental agencies.The debate is open again. Specialist in the economics of education, economic development and political economy. Among his many publications in related fields are Education as Cultural Imperialism, Economic Change and Educational Reform in Cuba, 1955–1974,and Education and Employment.     

Bourdieu on Higher Education: The meaning of the growing integration of educational systems and self-reflective practice

This paper discusses Pierre Bourdieu's multi-faceted understanding of the higher education process by considering the evolution of this domain since the end of the 1970s both in France and England. Following a brief review of Bourdieu's main interpretations of higher education, several theoretical shifts in his thought and practice over time are identified that have sought to accommodate the rapid changes that have occurred in the higher education sector in recent years. This theoretical repositioning is used to reflect on ideas of homological reasoning advanced by Bourdieu and others, and their limitations in the cross-national comparative exercise. Using the findings of her own comparative study of the evolution of the French and English higher education sectors, the author tests some of the conceptual tools developed by Bourdieu mainly during the 1960s and 1970s, and discusses claims for their universal validity.     

Bourdieu as education policy analyst and expert: a rich but ambiguous legacy

This article focuses on Bourdieu’s contribution to the analysis and transformation of the field of education. It shows that, when closely examined, Bourdieu’s writings on education reveal not only one but at least three competitive or complementary policy theories. There is a common principle to all of them, that is the invisibility of policy, which is embedded in the cognitive classifications and everyday activity of institutions. Nevertheless, while the first theory is strongly deterministic, the other two leave some room for political and pedagogical action. This article also shows that Bourdieu has exerted an important influence, both directly and indirectly, on collective representations and collective dynamics of educational politics and policy in France. This influence has lasted despite the extremely varied positions he took throughout his life and work on the relation between science and politics from strong reluctance to commit himself at the beginning of his career to academic radicalism at the end.     

论教育投资的财政政策选择

政府财政对教育的投资是教育经费最主要的来源渠道,政府对教育投资的财政政策选择是关系到我国教育发展的重要问题。从依法保证财政性教育经费增长、实现教育经费预算单列、规范教育财政转移支付制度、鼓励社会力量办学和社会捐赠教育的财政制度设计、优化财政教育投资结构等五个方面,应是教育投资的财政政策选择。     

The politics of educational policy studies: a preliminary analysis of leading educational policy journal publications

This paper argues that the content, analytical approaches and institutional affiliations of authors of articles published in the latest issues of two leading educational policy studies journals provide useful insights into the contested nature of educational policy studies. The paper draws upon a selection of articles published in 2007/08 issues of two flag-ship policy journals, the UK-based Journal of Education Policy, and the US-based Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. At the same time, the article is also suggestive of how Pierre Bourdieu's analytical resources of field, habitus and capital might be used to understand the academic journal publication practices which contribute to this contestation. The paper suggests that these journals and the articles within them may be construed as valued capitals and ‘traces’ of a broader conflict over what is considered valid research within the field of educational policy studies.     

Current implementation and practice of educational policy for HIV-positive children: A national study

Policy development for HIV-positive children in the public schools has been delayed. Difficulties with problem definition, indecisiveness, and conflict regarding which policy-making body is responsible for policy development and implementation, and complacency about the need for policy, appear to be the reasons that have hampered policy development. This article presents further findings of a national study regarding state-level policy for HIV-positive children and focuses on current implementation and practice of such policy (or lack thereof), as well as the states' perceptions of improvements that are needed in current policy. Forty-nine of fifty-one states and the District of Columbia responded to the study. The responses are analyzed as part of a model that specifies state experience, perceived need, and degree of state centralization of decision making as possible predictors of policy content and implementation.     

优先政策与教育公平

对于教育公平,可以从机会与结果两个层面来讨论,然而,不论是机会还是结果,都不可能达到一种完全均等的状态,因而也就有了制定优先政策以实现教育公平的必要。从个人所处的自然和社会条件两个方面的影响因素角度来看,社会应对由此所产生的不公平负起责任,通过采取一定的优先政策,来弥补个体某些先赋性的不平等以及后天社会因素而导致的结果的不平等;同时,还存在优先政策自身的公平性问题。只有既注意到不同个体自身所存在的差别,也注意到由社会因素而引起的发展起点的不同,这样的优先政策才真正有利于教育公平的实现。