The Making of Intellectuals and Ideas : Institutional Transformation and Media Markets in Post-war French Philosophical Field

Sammanfattning

This study investigates the institutional transformation within the post-war French philosophical field. By synthesizing Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory with the concept of meta-capital, I examine the structure of symbolic capital and its generational shifts between 1950 and 1989. It specifically analyzes the role of the media cultural market (primarily book publishing) as a form of meta-capital that regulated the field’s structure during periods of institutional instability. Furthermore, the study explores the homology between intellectual practices and shifting power dynamics to elucidate how intellectual products (especially ``French Theory'') were socially produced. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining Geometric Data Analysis (MCA) of 264 philosophers’ metadata, together with the projection of publishers and philosophical topics to map the spaces of publication and intellectual practices. This is complemented by network analysis of publisher circuits and qualitative case studies of Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Bouveresse, and Michel Henry to capture individual trajectories and embodied experiences within the field. The results reveal a transition from a traditional regime dependent on state apparatus toward a system of "intellectual power". Publication and cultural market functioned as a meta-capital, providing alternative recognition and symbolization mechanisms during the institutional interstices caused by the transformation. This catalyzed the academia's independence from the old establishment and its shift into a new, autonomous institution centred on competitive examinations and scientific authority. ``French Theory'' can also be understood as a specific social product of this transitional period. Overall, the study concludes that the production of philosophical knowledge and philosophers is shaped by certain socio-institutional dynamics.