Introduction to Bourdieu: Habitus

[Music] in the 17th century the philosopher godfried vilhelm liet asks us to imagine two clocks or watches in perfect agreement as to the time this may occur in one of three ways the first consists in mutual influence the second is to appoint a skillful Workman to correct them and synchronize them at all times the third is to construct these clocks with such an art and precision that one can be assured of their subsequent agreement how is it that we coordinate our activities as humans like clocks our language our humor our culture our expectations in many

ways they come together so that we can interact for the French sociologist Pierre bju born in 1930 and died in 2002 leits was on to something B's lifelong concern was how we interact sociologically what glues Society together he was particularly interested in how we're both free and constrained by the rules of society how these two phenomena interact what is it that determines our tastes for example or our sense of humor and then where's the space for freedom in choosing our own tastes or sense of humor our own path he wants us to think about how

Theory and the objective facts about society that affect us all and practice how we live that theory and embody those objective facts in our own subjective ways interact the result is an influential mix of sociology and philosophy that's had an impact across many disciplines his key concepts are habitus field and cultural capital and while it's important to understand how all three fit together the key to understanding them all and the focus here will be the habitus the philosophical Contex text of the second half of the 20th century is important for understanding boru structuralists like Claude

Levy stri argued that there were Universal rigid rules to all societies that provided the foundation for all social life while postmodernists and existentialists emphasized individual subjective outlooks that can never be pinned down bouru called this the Absurd opposition between individual and Society both perspectives he thought were necessary and in some way work together his answer to how is the habitus bju writes that all of my thinking started from this point how can Behavior be regulated without being the product of obedience to rules the habitus explains how our likelihood to act in a certain way is

dependent on how we expect others to respond how the social World becomes objectified into a range of probabilities and expect expectations that make us more likely to choose certain actions rather than others the habitus organizes us it's a predisposition tendency propensity or inclination as boru writes we know that Society is ordered in a certain way and that our own position in that Society presupposes a range of options some of which we might be likely to achieve and others not qualifications universities career paths eut different regions subcultures musical genres they all have different ways of doing

things different styles There are rules of the game that aren't necessarily written life is about getting a feel for the game and there's a way in which social life is collectively orchestrated without being the product of the orchestrating action of a conductor bju asks should one talk of a rule yes and no you can do so on condition that you distinguish clearly between Rule and regularity the social game is regulated it's the locus of certain regularities in this way objective social life presents itself as a kind of pattern that becomes encoded in how we act

how we build our buildings what we show on television the habitus is the underlying structures of social life that become ingrained into how we physically move or talk in the world how we behave is conditioned by these objective possibilities he calls this the subjective expectations of objective probabilities objective meaning for example the chance of getting a certain job or being able to buy a certain product subjective meaning the behavior we adopt in setting out to do so we respond unconsciously most of the time to the mathematical probabilities of the social world you know for example

that if you're not good at maths the probability of becoming an astronaut is Slim So this conditions your subjective decisions alternatively you might think you're an incredible singer but live in a village in Siberia and so not pursue that particular Talent this range of objective possibilities is what bju calls the field the habitus is the way we enter it with the knowledge we have about ourselves another word bju likes to use is strategies again these are not necessarily conscious we create strategies depending on what we think the right balances between for example likeliness of success

or appropriate challenge the habitus is the way these social likelihoods become codified in our heads within our own psychologies different cultures different classes different Industries have different habit they determine what's reasonable and unreasonable action within their fields which then guides or restrains personal thought or action we develop consciously or unconsciously different strategies for organizing our future actions language interests fashion ways of speaking walking are routines and a lot of this is transmitted from parent to child at an early age this means then that behavior isn't just rational it's conditioned by the possibilities that are presented

to us it's determined but it doesn't mean we are only determined we adjust the habitat depending on the uniqueness of our position in the world we can move location change what we wear learn new skills our emotional responses to certain situations might be conditioned by the habitus too where we live for example our culture and our social rules privileges certain emotions or virtues over others stoicism or openness for example or maybe religious reverence this is something I've talked about in this video on the social construction of emotions in this way the habitus shapes physiological responses

are muscles responding to stress under certain conditions a certain emotional state might be more socially profitable in the Army say cold Stern disciplined than that of a theater actor the boardroom Demands a different habitus to the beach boys are told not to cry for boru the habitus is the result of History being being codified into practice he writes that in each of us in varying proportions there is part of yesterday's man it is yesterday's man who inevitably predominates in us since the present amounts to little compared with the long past in the course of which

we were formed and from which we result so how is the concept useful in one study Gareth Wilshire and his colleagues have argued that B's Theory can help us understand some of the causes of ear age Health inequalities overcoming the disparity and life expectancy and Healthy Lifestyles between the rich and the poor is usually framed as either structural Access to Health Care finances Etc or individual encouraging changes through intervention and advertising Etc this dualism is something that boru wanted to overcome as we've seen following bouru then they look at how class differences are rified into

physical habitual practices living in some areas it might be important to look strong for example while in others to look smart accepting or aligning oneself to the habitus brings social and cultural capital that might lead to gains in contacts respect status Etc their research was conducted at different schools interviewing different children with different socioeconomic backgrounds in England they found that children towards the middle upper class tended to be pushed towards rugby because football wasn't Posh enough for the school which some of the children complained about while kids from workingclass backgrounds tended to talk disparagingly about

sport in general preferring activities like free running or scootering each activity carries with it certain expectations about the people you'll associate with and the future Pathways you create when you engage with that activity thinking about how different hobbies are the product of different social positions might allow us to think about how social Mobility might be achieved in creative ways that see the links between the two and finally what's the difference between habitus and habit bju writes that one of the reasons for the use of the term habitus is the wish to set aside the common

conception of habit as a mechanical assembly or performed program the habitus then is more flexible and precedes the physicality of the Habit gambling might be a habit and urge but the habitus is the social and economic conditions that structure the games the ation the likeliness of a person gambling and habitus doesn't just refer to the Instinct of habit rather than just being physical the way we think rationalize strategize about a situation where we should build the casino for example is dependent on the habitus we can see how similar habit affect both The Gambler and the

bookmaker some have argued that the concept can be and is overused and because of its wide applicability become ambiguous and lose its usefulness but I think it's most useful when we use the concept to think about what might be arbitrary in the ways that we act when we might be acting that way for the sake of other people other groups other classes in a way that's limiting for ourselves and for others if you like these videos I need your help and here's my request if you think you get the same value from four of these

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