Book Description

Much orthodox economic theory is based on assumptions which aretreated as self-evident: supply and demand are regarded asindependent entities, the individual is assumed to be a rationalagent who knows his interests and how to make decisionscorresponding to them, and so on. But one has only to examine aneconomic transaction closely, as Pierre Bourdieu does here for thebuying and selling of houses, to see that these abstractassumptions cannot explain what happens in reality. As Bourdieu shows, the market is constructed by the state, whichcan decide, for example, whether to promote private housing orcollective provision. And the individuals involved in thetransaction are immersed in symbolic constructions whichconstitute, in a strong sense, the value of houses, neighbourhoodsand towns. The abstract and illusory nature of the assumptions of orthodoxeconomic theory has been criticised by some economists, butBourdieu argues that we must go further. Supply, demand, the marketand even the buyer and seller are products of a process of socialconstruction, and so-called 'economic' processes can be adequatelydescribed only by calling on sociological methods. Instead ofseeing the two disciplines in antagonistic terms, it is time torecognize that sociology and economics are in fact part of a singlediscipline, the object of which is the analysis of social facts, ofwhich economic transactions are in the end merely one aspect. This brilliant study by the most original sociologist of post-warFrance will be essential reading for students and scholars ofsociology, economics, anthropology and related disciplines.