Bourdieu and the Field of Education Policy

The work of the late French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has had huge impact on the social sciences and the field of education studies. Within education, however, the main focus has been his early work on the reproduction of inequality through schooling which as made effective usage of his concepts of habitus and capitals. The concepts of field and practice have been to some extent neglected and there has been limited usage of his methodological approach, which he described as ‘field work in philosophy’, as well as neglect of its underpinning epistemology.

In Bourdieu and the Fields of Education Policy, the authors utilize the entire raft of Bourdieu’s ‘thinking tools’ and apply them to the study and analysis of education policy in a world of globalization, with its related flows, policyscapes, rapid communication and mediatization of processes of educational governance. The authors argue that in the context of both globalization and mediatization of education policy processes, Bourdieu’s concept of field needs to be extended. This extension includes the development of the concept of a 'global education policy field', which has rescaled the governance of education policy within nations. It also includes the concept of 'cross-field effects' to account for the impact of the logics of journalism upon education policy and policy processes. Bourdieu’s work is also used to provide a productive account of issues in education policy implementation.

This book therefore breaks new ground methodologically and in terms of its application of Bourdieu specifically within education policy studies in the context of globalization. It provides a new approach to education policy studies and is eminently suitable for today’s context of multilevel governance and post-national pressures. It is the first book length analysis of education policy, situated in the context of contemporary globalization, and using all of Bourdieu’s ‘thinking tools’ and his reflexive methodology.