Abstract
The article investigates Bourdieu’s field theory, analyzing the concept of relative autonomy’s limits and its implications for the relations between the fields. It begins by revisiting the history of fields in Bourdieusian theory, their conjunctural] importance and theoretical impact. Although Bourdieu provided a rigorous systematization of the fields’ internal logic, that was not the case for the conceptual treatment of the relations between fields. While the fields are theorized as relatively autonomous, the conditions and relations under which such an autonomy is given are unclear. The analysis based on Bourdieu’s writings revealed two possibilities. The first highlights the inter-relation between the fields, determined both by the impact that structural change in one field may have on another, and by agents transiting between fields. The second possibility is set in the relations between the fields and the state, which, given its historical formation and accumulated symbolic and physical power, is able to tyrannically strike the fields and affect their internal logics. The article offers a critical contribution to field theory and to its update to face the new dynamics and challenges of the contemporary world.
Social fields; Symbolic economy; Habitus; State