Social structure, its epistemological uses, and the construction of the subject in Bourdieu's sociology

Abstract

This paper discusses the notion of social structure in Pierre Bourdieu's sociology. It contextualizes the notion of social structure and its conception in Bourdieu's work highlighting the central functions the concept has had in the field of sociology. Taking into account some relevant critical positions around the concept of social structure and Bourdieu's sociology a critical exam of those positions is developed, deploying an alternative interpretation of the use of the concept given by the French sociologist, showing its contribution to the construction of an autonomous subject with capacity of collective agency. The concept of social structure operates as a generative tool of epistemological vigilance against reductionist representations of the subjects and their conditions of existence allowing the emergence of notions such as temporal dislocation, indeterminacy, dialectic, and socio-analysis which are contributing to the construction of a more emancipated subject.