Bourdieu’s Theory of the State	3
	Acknowledgements	6
	Contents	7
	1 Introduction	8
	2 Bourdieu’s Intellectual Biography	14
	Sociology as a World-view	16
	The French Intellectual Field	19
	Social and Political Context	21
	Outlining Bourdieu’s Work	22
	1. Algeria and the Bearn Peasantry	23
	Studies on the Béarn Peasantry	26
	2. Education and Social Reproduction	28
	3. Ritual and Social Practice	30
	Reflexivity	37
	4. Symbolic Power	39
	Recognition and Misrecognition	43
	3 Classical and Modern Theories of the State	46
	Marx	47
	Weber’s Theory of the State	51
	Durkheim On the State	58
	Modern Theories of the State	63
	Elias and the State	64
	Charles Tilly	66
	Corrigan and Sayer	69
	4 Bourdieu’s Theory of the State	74
	The State as a Monopoly of Physical and Symbolic Violence	74
	The State Exists Outside of and Within Individuals	79
	The State and Sociology	82
	The State as a Self-fulfilling Prophecy	82
	Acts of State	85
	The Power of Naming, Delegation, the Public and Acting for the Universal Interest	86
	5 The State and the Field of Power	90
	The State and the Field of Power	92
	Academic Titles	95
	Structural Homology	97
	The State as a Meta-field	99
	6 State Formation	102
	The Concentration of Capitals	104
	The Monopolisation of Physical Capital	104
	The Monopolisation of Taxation	104
	The Concentration of Cultural Capital	105
	The Concentration of Juridical Capital	106
	Monopolisation and Universalisation	107
	The Dynastic Patrimonial State – The Second Phase of State Formation	108
	From the King’s House to the Reason of the State – The Third Phase of State Formation	110
	From Bureaucratic State to a Welfare State – The Fourth Stage of State Formation	113
	7 An Assessment of Bourdieu’s Theory of the State	116
	How Penetrating Is State Thought?	118
	The ambiguity of symbolic capital	127
	Moving Beyond Existing Approaches of the State	128
	Against Gramsci	134
	Durkheim and Hegel Contra Marx	140
	The Continuing Relevance of Bourdieu?	148
	8 Conclusion	152
	Index	155