Symbolic Power

Hoffmann, Alvina

Abstract

Studying symbolic power is a commitment of international political sociology (IPS). This chapter analyzes the roots of symbolic power in Pierre Bourdieu’s work on Algeria, language, and critical engagement with Max Weber before surveying its uses in IPS scholarship on (in)security, diplomacy, and international law. It highlights ways to revitalize the study of symbolic power through Bourdieu’s engagement with Max Weber’s sociology of religion. Symbolic power helps generate new insights into themes of democratic politics, activism, religion, capitalism, and transformation by pointing to the entwinement of symbolic and material forms of power. I conclude that a symbolic power lens is not limited to analyzing the emergence and legitimation of social order produced through struggles between competing visions of the social world held by multiple actors but can help explore the power of symbolic revolutions, as Bourdieu demonstrated in his unfinished work on Manet and the artistic world.

Citation

Hoffmann, A. (2025). Symbolic Power. In S. E. Goddard, G. Lawson, & O. J. Sending (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of International Political Sociology (717-734). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198854708.013.34

• Online Publication Date: May 22, 2025
• Publication Date: May 22, 2025
• Deposit Date: Jun 13, 2025
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pages: 717-734
• Book Title: The Oxford Handbook of International Political Sociology
• Chapter Number: 34
• ISBN: 9780198854708
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198854708.013.34
• Keywords: symbolic power, Pierre Bourdieu, security, diplomacy, law, religion, authority, language, art