Book review: on the state: lectures at the College de France 1989-1992 by Pierre Bourdieu

What is the nature of the modern state? How did it come into being and what are the characteristics of this distinctive field of power that has come to play such a central role in the shaping of all spheres of social, political and economic life? These are the questions addressed by Pierre Bourdieu in ‘On the State’, which is derived from a lecture course he devoted three years of his teaching to at the Collège de France. Jon Dean writes that the book offers an insight into the construction of academic knowledge, and the more randomly inspired metaphors and anecdotes which make up the process of learning.