‘Bourdieu’s ‘The Force of Law’: Interview with Richard Terdiman

Bourdieu’s outline of a sociology of the juridical field was published as ‘The Force of Law: Toward a Sociology of the Juridical Field’ in Hastings Law Journal in 1987. It was translated by Richard Terdiman, who also wrote the ‘Translator's Introduction’ to ‘The Force of Law’ in the special issue of the journal.
Almost 35 years later, we interviewed Terdiman about the background of the translation, the work and challenges with the translation, the choice of Hastings Law Journal for the publication, the impact of the work and his meeting and collaboration with Bourdieu. One implicit narrative in the interview is how coincidences can have impact on science and its dissemination. Moreover, the interview illustrates that the challenges of the translation were not as much about linguistics, syntax or differences between legal fields, but more about Bourdieu’s specific terminology.