Pierre Bourdieu, Geometric Data Analysis and the Analysis of Economic Spaces and Fields

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the current relevance of geometric data analysis (GDA) in a new state of the field of economics where social science disciplines interested in economic phenomena tend to converge. We argue that this methodology can respond to the growing need to seek for more solid empirical foundations, and to adopt a multidimensional approach in social economics. We begin by setting out the basic principles of GDA methodology, which clearly distinguish descriptive and inferential moments of the research. Then, we show why and how Bourdieu used these methods in the studies he carried out in France in a variety of economic spaces and fields: lifestyle and consumption, corporate management, the individual housing market and publishing. We stress that GDA helps us to formalise the configuration and dynamics of economic institutions, groups and interests in a truly multidimensional and pluralistic way compared to standard methods used by mainstream economics.

Keywords:

• geometric data analysis
• fields
• social space
• economic space
• economic sociology
• Bourdieu

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ This concept is part of the concepts from Abstract Linear Algebra which allow analysing the dimensionality of a data table. An eigenvector is the result of the decomposition of the matrix into a set of independent dimensions, called singular value decomposition, in practise ‘diagonalization’.

² The first possible framework is combinatorial inference, which is most in line with the descriptive philosophy of GDA, the second is the (dominant) frequentist framework, and the third one is the Bayesian interpretation framework (Rouanet et al., 2000; Rouanet et al., 2000).

³ As Bourdieu firmly states in Distinction, the particular relations between a dependent variable (political opinion) and so-called independent variables such as sex, age and religion, tend to dissimulate the complete system of relations that make up the true principle of the force and form specific to the effects recorded in such and such particular correlation. (Bourdieu, 1979, p. 103)

⁴ The field of ‘grandes écoles’ in the 1980s is studied with the help of CA in La Noblesse d'État. The table is a contingency table crossing schools and professions of the father.