Citation Concept Analysis (CCA) of concepts introduced by Pierre Bourdieu: Measuring their impact across fields and periods

Bornmann, Lutz; Crothers, Charles; Haunschild, Robin

doi:10.2478/jdis-2025-0009

Abstract

Purpose

Citations can be used in evaluative bibliometrics to measure the impact of papers. However, citation analysis can be extended by a multi-dimensional perspective on citation impact which is intended to receive more specific information about the kind of received impact.

Design/methodology/approach

Bornmann, Wray, and Haunschild (2019) introduced citation concept analysis (CCA) for capturing the importance and usefulness certain concepts have in subsequent research. The method is based on the analysis of citances – the contexts of citations in citing papers. This study applies the method by investigating the impact of various concepts introduced in the oeuvre of the world-leading French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu.

Findings

We found that the most cited concepts are ‘social capital’ (with about 34% of the citances in the citing papers), ‘cultural capital’, and ‘habitus’ (both with about 24%). On the other hand, the concepts ‘doxa’ and ‘reflexivity’ score only about 1% each.

Research limitations

The formulation of search terms for identifying the concepts in the data and the citation context coverage are the most important limitations of the study.

Practical implications

The results of this explorative study reflect the historical development of Bourdieu’s thought and its interface with different fields of study.

Originality/value

The study demonstrates the high explanatory power of the CCA method.

References

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