Sci&Tech History

In Homo Academicus, Pierre Bourdieu illustrates his central thesis about how cultural fields mediate the political attitudes and behavior of intellectuals. He introduces two different kinds of power, academic power and intellectual renown. The academic power refers to the degree of control over the organizational mechanism for teacher training, selection, promotions, and careers, while intellectual renown refers to recognition by the broader educated public for published work. Professors, therefore, are differentiated in terms of the cultural markets where they make their principal investments.

Dichotomy in intellectual fields continue with the differentiation between economy capital(wealth, income, property) and cultural capital(knowledge, culture, educational credentials). Bourdieu calls economy capital by the dominant principle of hierarchy, while the second as the second principle of hierarchy. It is Bourdieu’s thesis that these two competing claims to power internally differentiate French education as well.

Reference: Power & Culture, David Swartz, 1997.

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