A Reconsideration of the Clinical Functions of Socio–Analysis in The Weight of the World

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to reconsider the sociological implications of socio–analysis in The Weight of the World from the perspective of Bourdieu’s theory of sociological knowledge. The argument begins by drawing the epistemic dimensions of Bourdieu’s theory of sociological knowledge, especially of the notion of socio–analysis. Socio–analysis can fulfil clinical and therapeutical functions by providing the means for a reappropriation of schemes of the perception and appreciation which are at the root of a social misery. Thus socio–analysis grounds the conversion of the gaze on the world and presents possibilities for social agents to comprehend and reappropriate their selves.