Bernstein, Bourdieu and the New Literacy Studies
This essay discusses early and contemporary work by Basil Bernstein, comparing it with that of Pierre Bourdieu, the other major theorist of social and educational reproduction. I argue that their work jointly represents a legacy of neoclassical social theory with continuing relevance for educational research. It presents substantive analyses of institutional differentiation within contemporary societies, empirically robust arguments about class-specific symbolic resources, and insightful hypotheses about mechanisms of socialization and subjectivity. I develop the argument by examining two significant works in the new literacy studies—Social linguistics and literacies and Gender, literacy, curriculum—in light of their affinities with, and departures from, this “reproduction” legacy.