La Distinction Indifférente

The concept of distinction is central to the German reception of Pierre Bourdieu's work. The specific translations of the main terms which are linked directly to the concept of distinction, namely the body (‘Leib’) and the agent (‘Akteur’), as well as the translation of the concept of distinction itself (‘Unterscheid’), lead to a reconsideration of their meanings in Bourdieu's original French works. The analysis has been carried out with reference to physical suffering and shows that – contrary to what the German semantics of ‘distinction’ suggests – Bourdieu's distinction does not incorporate its own differentiation. The concept reflects the privileged status granted to a description and explanation of social practices which build on a strong principle of relation. However, the concept has a disadvantage in that it does not give consideration to the phenomena of deconstruction which refer to differentiations of distinctive logics which can appear in the context of physical suffering.