I can't think of anything from Foucault, but Bourdieu makes some aposite
remarks in The Logic of Practice. I paste from my notes:
While "symbolic forms [thus] have a logic and an efficacy of their own which
make them relatively autonomous with respect to the objective conditions" of
distribution, "contrary to . . . *subjectivism*. . . the social order is not
formed, like an election result or a market price, by simple mechanical
addition of individual orders. . . . [for] not all judgments have the same
weight, and the dominant groups are able to impose the scale of preferences
most favorable to [themselves]," (139). And this is seen clearly
even in the limiting case of "high society," the site par excellence of
symbolic speculation, the value of individuals and groups does not depend as
exclusively as Proust suggests when he writes "Our social personality is
created by the thoughts of other people" (or as Erving Goffman puts it "The
individual must rely on others to realize his self-image") The symbolic
capital of those who dominate Proustian "society". . . presupposes something
more than the marks of distain or respect, interest of indifference, which
make up the play of reciprocal judgments: it is the exalted form assumed by
realities as baldly objective as. . . mansions and estates, titles of
property and nobility, academic distinctions, when they are transformed by
the enchanted perception, mystified and colluding, which defines snobbery
(140).
Bourdieu is obviously more intensely engaged with political economy than
Foucault, but I've always felt there was a deep compatibility between the
two all the same. Paul Rabinow once mentioned that Bourdieu was a very
serious reader of Foucault's work, and, indeed, that he was the only French
intellectual of comparable stature to have read --and understood--
everything Foucault had ever written.
Also, I think it is a mistake to read Foucault as anti-marxist, despite
certain statements he made implying such a stance; there are also multiple
places in Discipline and Punish (and elsewhere) where he explicitly links
his account to one more grounded political economy. His own project was
different, of course, but I have always understood the anti-marxist
statements (such as in Order of Things) to have been a bit over-blown and
also to have more to do with a struggle to get out from under the weight of
a particular party-based marxist orthodoxy that was dominating many aspects
of French intellectual life at that time (he says this explicitly in an
interview somewhere, I believe).
But I digress. Hope the Bourdieu extracts will be of some interest/use to
you as you work your way through Proust.
Regards,
Nate
On 3/27/06, robert stuart <thuotte@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I am curious whether anyone has come across comments on / citations of
> Proust / In Search of Lost Time in any of Foucault's texts. I am
> reading Proust for the first time now and would be very interested in
> any takes Foucault might have, esp. in consideration of sexuality in the
> novel. I of course have Deleuze's long essay, and realize F. was much
> less engaged with literature, but would be quite interested to read him
> on ISoLT if he ever touched it, even if only briefly or in passing.
> Thanks a lot.
>
> Robert, posting for the first time (joined about 2 weeks ago and happy
> to find some activity here!)
> _______________________________________________
> Foucault-L mailing list
>
--
Nathaniel Roberts
PhD Candidate
Department of Anthropology
Columbia University
remarks in The Logic of Practice. I paste from my notes:
While "symbolic forms [thus] have a logic and an efficacy of their own which
make them relatively autonomous with respect to the objective conditions" of
distribution, "contrary to . . . *subjectivism*. . . the social order is not
formed, like an election result or a market price, by simple mechanical
addition of individual orders. . . . [for] not all judgments have the same
weight, and the dominant groups are able to impose the scale of preferences
most favorable to [themselves]," (139). And this is seen clearly
even in the limiting case of "high society," the site par excellence of
symbolic speculation, the value of individuals and groups does not depend as
exclusively as Proust suggests when he writes "Our social personality is
created by the thoughts of other people" (or as Erving Goffman puts it "The
individual must rely on others to realize his self-image") The symbolic
capital of those who dominate Proustian "society". . . presupposes something
more than the marks of distain or respect, interest of indifference, which
make up the play of reciprocal judgments: it is the exalted form assumed by
realities as baldly objective as. . . mansions and estates, titles of
property and nobility, academic distinctions, when they are transformed by
the enchanted perception, mystified and colluding, which defines snobbery
(140).
Bourdieu is obviously more intensely engaged with political economy than
Foucault, but I've always felt there was a deep compatibility between the
two all the same. Paul Rabinow once mentioned that Bourdieu was a very
serious reader of Foucault's work, and, indeed, that he was the only French
intellectual of comparable stature to have read --and understood--
everything Foucault had ever written.
Also, I think it is a mistake to read Foucault as anti-marxist, despite
certain statements he made implying such a stance; there are also multiple
places in Discipline and Punish (and elsewhere) where he explicitly links
his account to one more grounded political economy. His own project was
different, of course, but I have always understood the anti-marxist
statements (such as in Order of Things) to have been a bit over-blown and
also to have more to do with a struggle to get out from under the weight of
a particular party-based marxist orthodoxy that was dominating many aspects
of French intellectual life at that time (he says this explicitly in an
interview somewhere, I believe).
But I digress. Hope the Bourdieu extracts will be of some interest/use to
you as you work your way through Proust.
Regards,
Nate
On 3/27/06, robert stuart <thuotte@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I am curious whether anyone has come across comments on / citations of
> Proust / In Search of Lost Time in any of Foucault's texts. I am
> reading Proust for the first time now and would be very interested in
> any takes Foucault might have, esp. in consideration of sexuality in the
> novel. I of course have Deleuze's long essay, and realize F. was much
> less engaged with literature, but would be quite interested to read him
> on ISoLT if he ever touched it, even if only briefly or in passing.
> Thanks a lot.
>
> Robert, posting for the first time (joined about 2 weeks ago and happy
> to find some activity here!)
> _______________________________________________
> Foucault-L mailing list
>
--
Nathaniel Roberts
PhD Candidate
Department of Anthropology
Columbia University