Article Bourdieu’s sociology: A post-positivist science Sheena Jain Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India Abstract This paper takes as its starting point the fact that Bourdieu’s views on sociology as a science have not been sufficiently and adequately understood and discussed. It traces the links between his conception and that of the French tradition of historical epistemology which is critical of positivism. How Bourdieu extends their views, and those of Bachelard especially, beyond the realm of the natural sciences, to the social sciences and sociology in particular, is discussed. In the process he introduces new concepts and methods, such as that of participant objectivation. His perspective reveals a convergence between the natural sciences and the social sciences as human endeavours striving for universal truths. This is reinforced and widened to include the humanities as well as demonstrated by his analysis of the literary field. The paper concludes with the observation that Bourdieu’s post-positivist science is a salutary alternative to the postmodern critique of science. Keywords explanation, Flaubert, historical epistemology, participant objectivation, understanding Introduction While habitus, capital, and field are fast acquiring the status of basic concepts in con- temporary social thought with regard to Bourdieu’s theory of practice, the precise sense in which Bourdieu conceives his theoretical practice to be a scientific practice, is a relatively undiscussed theme, except for a few research papers (see Dreyfus and Rabi- now 1993; Vandenberghe 1999; Maton 2003; Kim 2009; Sismondo 2011; Susen 2011). The issue assumes special piquancy in the context of the alleged hubris of scientists and scientific knowledge as per the judgement of postmodern thinkers, as also in relation to Corresponding author: Sheena Jain, Department of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi-110025, India. Email: saritavihar21@hotmail.com Thesis Eleven 00(0) 1–16 ª The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0725513613492589 the.sagepub.com