La distinction n’est pas une différenciation

Abstract

The article attempts to show the sociological and theoretical difference between distinction and differentiation, between a model of social distinction and a model of social differentiation. To do so, it examines the conceptualization P. Bourdieu developed in his work La distinction. Domination, holism, elitism and objectivism form four cha­racteristics of what we might call a structural conception of distinction. After returning to the sometimes confused uses of the two concepts and to the unjustified extension of distinction to differentiation, the article develops the characteristics of a social differentiation, namely the individual or collective difference permitted and supported by the objects of cultural practice and the affirmation of taste, through public expression of oneself, through an increased capacity for autonomous choice in relation to fa­milial, religious and cultural tutelages and, finally, through civic engagement.

Keywords

• sociology
• domination
• distinction
• differentiation
• hierarchy