I found your messages on Bourdieu's thoughts on classroom cultures very
helpful and interesting...
And when you wrote about B's Reproduction book, you say,"... if you don't
get put off by theagonistic power orientation--in some ways B seems to be
a traditional structural conflict theory...."
Looks like you would have comments on the limitations of tradtional
structural conflict theory... can you elaborate on some of these limitations?
I also find it necessary to explore alternative ways of thinking about
and talking about power issues. However, structural conflict theories
seem to be the only widely avialable tools we have now... Bourdieu's
thoughts and research are definitely different from Marx..., and perhaps
he might offer an alternative to structural conflict theroy?
Educational research would be impotent and pure academese
if it avoids issues of power and
social inequalities... and yet, obviously, we are still in search of ways
that can better capture the issues and offer channels for communication
between people of different political orientations.
I would like to hear your thoughts on these...
Thanks, and cheers,
Angel