Pierre Bourdieu is arguably one of the twentieth century’s greatest socio-philosophical thinkers and his writings have much to offer anyone interested in the ways that people value, consume and produce architecture. Bourdieu spent much of his life attempting to understand cultural consumption and production through detailed empirical research that included studies of dwellings, art, museums, photography and aesthetics. This book introduces the architectural reader to Bourdieu’s key writings on culture and outlines the ways in which they offer powerful practical tools and novel conceptual frameworks for understanding architectural value, taste, and practice.

Contents

1. Introduction 2. The Social Construction of Space 3. The Anatomy of Taste 4. Towards a Theory of Cultural Practice 5. Fields of Cultural Production 6. Cultural Practice, Reflexivity and Political Action. Further Reading

Author Bio

Helena Webster is a Reader in Architecture at the Department of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom.