ABSTRACT
Arguably, Bourdieu’s work was primarily directed against rational action theory, “paradigmatic form of the scholastic illusion” ( Bourdieu 2000b trans. Turner 2005: 7), derived from mainstream economic theories, in that it created an “anthropological monster, this theoretically minded man of practice” (Ibid.: 209), the homo economicus. Such “scholastic illusion” consisted of putting in the decision-maker’s mind the models elaborated by the scientist in order to account for her behaviour: “the scientific subject, endowed with a perfect knowledge of causes and probable outcome, is projected into the active agent” (Ibid.: 213). Bourdieu endorsed an “applied rationalism” (Bourdieu et al. 1968 trans. Nice 1991), which led him to make a plea for some form of realism that would not take at face value what people think of themselves. His whole theoretical enterprise revolved around avoiding those twin pitfalls, the “illusion of immediate knowledge” (Ibid.: 15) and the “scholastic illusion”, a will that gave rise to the concept of habitus, i.e. the implementation of a “practical sense” by individuals in their everyday behaviour. Therefore, it should not be surprising that he kept on castigating neoliberalism and mainstream economics throughout his life, in his public statements as well as in his scientific stances.
