Interpretations of the journalistic field: A systematic analysis of how journalism scholarship appropriates Bourdieusian thought

Abstract

Like many fields of communication research, journalism scholarship draws on theories from other disciplines and mostly applies social theories to make sense of journalistic practices. One theory that has gained immense popularity in recent years is Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory. However, while there are now numerous studies using his concepts, we have little comprehensive understanding of how scholarship applies them. To this end, this study conducts a systematic analysis of 249 articles, using content analysis, textual analysis and citation analysis to examine how field theory is adopted and adapted, as well as who has interpretative authority in shaping Bourdieusian thought in journalism research. The findings suggest a selective in-depth use of field theory and that the appropriation of some concepts is still ambiguous. Moreover, it highlights once more the dominance of Western scholarship in the academic field.