Constructing a Sociology of Translation

The view of translation as a socially regulated activity has opened up a broad field of research in the last few years. This volume deals with central questions of the new domain and aims to contribute to the conceptualisation of a general sociology of translation. Interdisciplinary in approach, it discusses the role of major representatives of sociology like Pierre Bourdieu, Bruno Latour, Bernard Lahire, Anthony Giddens or Niklas Luhmann in establishing a theoretical framework for a sociology of translation. Drawing on methodologies from sociology and integrating them into translation studies, the book questions some of the established categories in this discipline and calls for a redefinition of long-assumed principles. The contributions show the social involvement of translation in various fields and focus especially on the translator’s position in an emerging sociology of translation, Bourdieu’s influence in conceptualising this new sub-discipline, methodological questions and a sociologically oriented meta-discussion of translation studies.

Table of contents
Introduction: The emergence of a sociology of translation
Part I. The debate on the translator's position in an emerging sociology of translation
Priests, princes and pariahs: Constructing the professional field of translation
Translation, irritation and resonance

Part II. Bourdieu's influence in conceptualising a sociology of translation
Objectivation, réflexivité et traduction: Pour une re-lecture bourdieusienne de la traduction
Outline for a sociology of translation: Current issues and future prospects
The location of the 'translation field': Negotiating borderlines between Pierre Bourdieu and Homi Bhabha

Part III. Mapping the field: Issues of method and translation practice
Locating systems and individuals in translation studies
Translations 'in the making'
Bridge concepts in translation sociology

Part IV. Constructing a sociology of translation studies: Overview and perspectives
Between sociology and history: Method in context and in practice
Y a-t-il place pour une socio-traductologie?
Notes on contributors
Author index
Subject index