Reflexivity in the Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu: Beyond Sociological Dichotomies

Abstract

This article deals with the notion of reflexivity in the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. Defining the concept of habitus in terms of embodied dispositions, Bourdieu presents human practice as a predominantly unconscious activity. Given that the same applies to sociological habitus, the purpose of reflexive sociology is to neutralize the unconscious assumptions of sociological habitus, that is, the doxa of sociological intellectual field. Using the notion of field to designate a historically produced and continual configuration of objective positions, Bourdieu provides reflexive sociology with its necessary object of analysis and, thus, the status of science. Bourdieu challenged entrenched sociological binary oppositions, such as actor/structure, subjectivism/objectivism, theory/research, subject/object and micro/macro, by applying reflexivity in transcending theoretical antinomies of sociology.