Reading Questions: Bourdieu (for 9/17)

1. Bourdieu states that “A work of art has meaning and interest only for someone who possesses the cultural competence, that is, the code, into which it is encoded” (p. 2). But let’s take a step back and ask: How can we define art? In Theatre 100 I was taught that there are three ways to define art: 1) Art is what we’ve been told art is, 2) Art is what we expect art to look like, and 3) Art is what moves us personally. Would Bourdieu agree with any or all of these definitions? Given the above quote, do you think Bourdieu argues that the class one belongs to affects how he/she views art? Would a change in a person’s class change his/her definition of art?

2. Bourdieu argues that the social and educational system (in France) have “fobbed” off the working-class with a “worthless piece of paper”—the diploma (p. 144). After receiving their diploma and getting less than desirable jobs, some members of the working-class decided to stop working for a while as a way of dealing with this issue (p. 146). What are they trying to prove by quitting their jobs? (See p. 155). How is this working-class similar and different from the subcultures Hebdige examined? How would the working-class youth in Britain deal with the situation of not getting a suitable education and job? Would they quit working for a while and continue to think if they wait change will happen, or would they try other ways of rebelling?

3. When discussing sports and the life-styles of the spectators and players, Bourdieu notes that the game of rugby represented a “cult of manliness and the taste for a fight” (p. 213). Bourdieu points out that rugby shows “working-class strength in its approved form (self-sacrifice, ‘team spirit’ and so forth),” yet it is sometimes played by members of the dominant class who also tend to make an “aesthetico-ethical investment” in the game. Would playing and investing in sports be considered an exception to keeping the lines drawn among the social classes or a blurring of the lines (i.e., upper class members can play working-class sports, but you wouldn’t see working-class members playing golf)? Is fan culture a class in itself? What class(es) would play “alternative soccer”—the game in which women and men play together with limited or no regulations concerning appropriate dress and rules of the game? (See p. 222 for description of this sport).