Pascal Gielen: Art and Social Value Regimes

The intensity of the discursive dispute between Bourdieu and Heinich often lead to black-and-white oppositions that resulted in coarse reductions,especially of Bourdieu’s views on the sociology of art. But also Heinich was criticized for going overboard in her dispute with Bourdieu, as she was said to only pay attention to the singular in the art world. However, the importance of the discussion between these French sociologists for our study is that it clearly defines two concepts that are connected to two observational options. By virtue of this discussion, the communal and the singular regime as two potential value regimes came to the forefront more explicitly.