What Is Symbolic Power?

According to Pierre Bourdieu (who was an eminent thinker who had an extensive body of work in the fields of sociology and politics), the phrase symbolic power is used in the context of issues that concern power, public policy and social justice in such a way that it breaches the separation of science and life, which is an accepted part of life.

Bourdieu's theory also seeks to differentiate between the conceptual aspects of the lives of all human beings in general and the personal aspects of the lives of all human beings in general. It continually crosses the sacred border that exists (figuratively, that is) between the field of culture and the field of politics.

Symbolic power also crosses the imaginary line that exists between pure thought and the triviality of the agora, which according to Bourdieu, was one of the major obstacles to the establishment of a genuine form of democratic government.