'The Anthem Companion to Pierre Bourdieu' provides an introduction to the French sociologist’s thought and an evaluation of the international significance of his work from a range of national perspectives.

'The Anthem Companion to Pierre Bourdieu' provides an introduction to the French sociologist’s thought and an evaluation of the international significance of his work from a range of national perspectives. This volume assesses Bourdieu’s work as a product of his social situation in France and, more importantly, in relation to his experience as French Algeria gained its independence. The companion then proceeds to ask how the concepts he developed can legitimately be applied to other situations.

The volume is divided into two parts, with the first devoted to aspects of Bourdieu’s thought and the second discussing case-studies of the international deployment of his thought. The international list of contributors elaborate on the implications and consequences of Bourdieu’s phenomenological orientation; explore the meaning of ‘reflexivity’ in Bourdieu’s work offering, in the process, a comprehensive guide to relevant secondary literature; examine the validity of the ways in which Margaret Archer and Bernard Lahire have attempted to go beyond Bourdieu’s original formulations; and spell out the implications of Bourdieu’s thinking in relation to the possibility of an international social science. The contributors also provide a biometric analysis of the circulation of Bourdieu’s ideas within Europe and offer interpretations of Bourdieu’s work within their own national contexts rather than in terms of a shared discourse of international sociology.

Acknowledgements; Editor’s Introduction; Part I:Aspects of Bourdieu’s thought; 1. Reading Bourdieu phenomenologically. Derek Robbins; 2. The Sociological Challenge of Reflexivity in Bourdieusian Thought. Simon Susen; 3. Sociology at the Scale of the Individual. Archer and Lahire contra Bourdieu. Frédéric Vandenberghe; 4. Bourdieu and international social science. Derek Robbins; Part II:Case-studies of the international deployment of Bourdieu’s thought; 5. Bourdieu inside Europe. The European circulation of Bourdieu’s ideas.  Marco Santoro and Andrea Gallelli; 6. The principle of differentiation in Japanese society and international knowledge transfer between Bourdieu and Japan. Shinichi Aizawa and Naoki Iso; 7. Worlds Within And Beyond Words: Bourdieu And The Limits Of Theory. Sheena Jain; 8. Social transformation and cultural reproduction: a bourdieusian analysis of post-reform China. Yang Yang and Xuanyang Gao; 9. Bourdieu’s use and reception: A Latin American perspective on the problems of conceptual transfer. MariaLuisa Mendez; Notes on contributors; Author index; Subject index.

'The Anthem Companion to Pierre Bourdieu' provides an introduction to the French sociologist’s thought and an evaluation of the international significance of his work from a range of national perspectives. This volume assesses Bourdieu’s work as a product of his social situation in France and, more importantly, in relation to his experience as French Algeria gained its independence. The companion then proceeds to ask how the concepts he developed can legitimately be applied to other situations.

The volume is divided into two parts, with the first devoted to aspects of Bourdieu’s thought and the second discussing case-studies of the international deployment of his thought. The international list of contributors elaborate on the implications and consequences of Bourdieu’s phenomenological orientation; explore the meaning of ‘reflexivity’ in Bourdieu’s work offering, in the process, a comprehensive guide to relevant secondary literature; examine the validity of the ways in which Margaret Archer and Bernard Lahire have attempted to go beyond Bourdieu’s original formulations; and spell out the implications of Bourdieu’s thinking in relation to the possibility of an international social science. The contributors also provide a biometric analysis of the circulation of Bourdieu’s ideas within Europe and offer interpretations of Bourdieu’s work within their own national contexts rather than in terms of a shared discourse of international sociology.