Bourdieu For Architects

This book offers a clear, quick and accurate introduction for an architectural audience, reflecting on the consequences of Pierre Bourdieu’s ideas for architects and the field of architecture. 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.