The Gender Relationship in Bourdieu’s Sociology

Bourdieu first entered the sociological discussion of the gender relationship in 1990 with his essay on “male domination,” which appeared (revised) as a book in 1998. This makes him one of the very few sociologists to show, through an original contribution, that he takes this discussion seriously. He is one member of the discipline who cannot be reproached for being blind to gender in his analyses and empirical studies. Already in his earliest works he dealt with the relationships of the sexes, or with specific differences in the living conditions and social practices of men and women (cf. Bourdieu/Sayad 1964, Bourdieu/Passeron 1970, Bourdieu 1979, Bourdieu 1980). However, his contribution has scarcely been recognized by feminists, ¹ just as his sociology plays practically no role in gender studies, which nonetheless seeks to clarify its topic via a wide spectrum of theoretical approaches. In the following, I want to show that there are numerous affinities between Bourdieu’s sociology and gender studies, which could give fresh impetus to research on gender relations in the social sciences.