Practice question · Select all that apply
Which are true of Bourdieu's literary field?
Hints
- Three describe the structure; one denies that the field moves.
- Reputations rise and fall, which means positions are not fixed.
Show the answer
- A. It has a heteronomous pole where success is measured in sales
- B. It has an autonomous pole where recognition comes from other producers
- D. Commercial failure can function as evidence of symbolic value
Why
Bourdieu calls the autonomous pole "the economic world reversed" precisely because failure to sell can count there. The field is dynamic: a position's value depends on what the other positions are doing, so a stance that means rebellion in one decade can mean orthodoxy in the next.
Practise The Sociology of Reading
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