Heffernan, T. (2022). 'Introducing Bourdieu and Higher Education'. In. Bourdieu and Higher Education. Singapore: Springer. pp. 9-26.

 This chapter gives an overview of the context within which Bourdieu developed and communicated his theories. He was born in 1930 and worked within the French higher education system from the late 1950s to his death in 2002. As well as describing Bourdieu's background, Heffernan outlines the key criticisms of his work, some of which interestingly bear some relation to those of Critical Theory:

• That he was writing within a time period not easily generalised to the present
• That his work was based solely on his experiences and observations of the French higher education system, which is not necessarily applicable to the global system
• That he only seemed to focus on the inequalities associated with social class and failed to recognise the experiences and challenges faced by other marginalised groups including women, the disabled and those from a black or minority ethnic background
• That his work at times seems to some to be purely about the theory rather than the application of the theory to practice (although Heffernan seems to refute this later in the chapter).

He was, however, a qualitative researcher who embraced the value of quantitative research to understanding social issues, sharing my own views that people and their experiences are too complicated to be described by statistics alone. 

Bourdieu developed his 'Theory of Practice', which interrogated the contemporary positivist research into teaching, learning and pedagogical practice. He sought to understand what was behind the findings of that research and their relationship to culture and society.

Another key term described by Bourdieu is that of 'cultural trajectory', which describes the expected path someone takes as a result of the social circumstances into which they are born and within which they are raised. He argues that those whose cultural trajectory differs from what is expected of them (e.g. people who, like Bourdieu himself, are born into socially disadvantaged communities but 'break out' and move into academia) do NOT have the same opportunities as those who were 'born to it'. Essentially, the concept of 'equal opportunity' does not apply when one considers issues associated with social privilege. This element of who is supported by the system to succeed and who is held back by 'socially imposed barriers' (p. 21) is very important to my work and I have scanned the pages where this is discussed to refer back to (pp. 20-21).

"Therefore, while the working-class child can overcome those barriers, and the middle-class child may choose not to walk through the open gates, Bourdieu's work and this theory of practice tells us that society has encouraged and made 'success' easier and statistically far more likely for the the middle-class child, and because of that, the middle-class child is more likely to succeed."

(p. 21) 

 Essentially, Bourdieu is trying to debunk the myth of 'hard work or merit = success'. He argues that those who do not 'fit' the system because they have arrived within it from a different cultural trajectory than their peers are less likely to question the system due to a sense of obligation to the institution that has 'allowed them in'. He suggests that, rather than relying on merit, academic success actually rests on the concept of 'capital', which, as well as being influenced by quality of work, is more strongly associated with wealth, social advantage and social connections. 

One last point I would like to pick up on, is that Bourdieu does refer to the impact of universal schooling on maintaining the cultural trajectories set by children's social standing at birth. My argument is that HE should be about disrupting these structures and not just 'allowing in' those who do not 'fit' the system, but using the system to drive true social change. These inherent imbalances of power are harmful and this work speaks to the need for those of us with social power to proactively work to flatten these hierarchies. Again, this should not be by the elite opening itself up to the disadvantaged but by the elite seeking to completely dismantle the social structures that perpetuate such inequalities - including those of us working in higher education.

References

Heffernan, T. (2022). 'Introducing Bourdieu and Higher Education'. In. Bourdieu and Higher Education. Singapore: Springer. pp. 9-26.