The Kabyle paradigm

The Algerian experience was very important in the formation of Bourdieu's social theory. The recently published fragments of an autobiography and L. Addi's analysis of Bourdieu's anthropological theory allow a more detailed evaluation of the contribution of Kabil ethnology to the Bourdieusian conceptualization of the social. The concepts of habitus and social capital both have their origin in the analysis of Kabil peasant economy while they are central to the examination of the reproduction of modern French society. In this way, Bourdieu reduces the differences of modern and archaic society. This difference was constitutive of classical social theory. Bourdieu's social theory shares the 'timelessness' of much modern social theory, including that of Parsons. Reprinted by permission of Szociológiai Szemle