Bourdieu and the Psychoanalysis of the Social: Socioanalysis - Vera King

In Bourdieu and the Psychoanalysis of the Social, Vera King uses the work of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu to explore one of the great challenges in social and cultural research: the question of how social and individual 'unconsciousness' are connected.

This book shows how, with his concept of socioanalysis - a ‘psychoanalysis of the social’ - Pierre Bourdieu developed approaches to social forms of unconsciousness that are of particular importance for contemporary society. Explaining how Bourdieu draws on psychoanalytic epistemology and concepts as well as concepts of the unconscious in his conception of socioanalysis, it presents empirical case studies of social mobility and educational advancement to reveal how social and psychological dynamics can intertwine.

An analysis of Bourdieu’s interest in that which is systematically hidden in the social world – such that sociology is rendered a ‘science of the hidden’ – Bourdieu and the Psychoanalysis of the Social: Socioanalysis will appeal to scholars of sociology and social theory with interests in psychoanalysis and the work of Bourdieu.