Habitus

From Geography

In sociology habitus is a term that describes a sustainable way of observing (perception), thinking and acting. When speaking of habitus, it is ‘Bourdieu’s habitus’ which play's an important role. According to Bourdieu we can describe habitus as the mental structure that individuals develop during their live in a certain social sphere. This mental structure defines the way individuals observe, appreciate and act. So, the habitus is a product of conditionings bounds to a certain position in a social space and we can draw the conclusion that the habitus is very differentiated.

There are two sides to the concept 'habitus'. First, habitus is a system of structured expectations and interpretations and second, it is the generative principle of symbolic practices that reproduce social structures.

Because the development of the habitus depends on the social sphere an individual lives in, according to Bourdieu, you can notice similarities in the habitus of two individuals who grew up in the same social sphere. These habitus similarities, caused by developing the habitus in comparable spheres, can also be recognized on a bigger scale level. For example think of the behaviour differences between people living in the Randstad and people living in the north of the Netherlands. Take in account that off course there will be individual exceptions.

According to Bourdieu, there is a connection between habitus and the field (social sphere a person lives in). The habitus represents the social conditions of the field. These social conditions are always formed uniformly.

The term habitus can help by understanding the classical dichotomy between subjective and objective thinking. One that is thinking subjective will say that the society is formed by individual observing, appreciating and acting human beings. The opposite one that is thinking objective will say that the individual observing, appreciating and acting is formed by structures in the society.

References:

Bourdieu,P. Cultural Studies: Representation and Identity. Consulted: 15 October 2010, on http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/Literary_Criticism/cultural_studies/bourdieu.html.

Flinterman,J.J. De sociologie van Pierre Bourdieu voor studenten in 600 woorden samengevat. Consulted: 17 October 2010 on http://flinterm.home.xs4all.nl/Pierre-Bourdieu-samengevat.html.

Lipuner, R. & Werlen, B. (2009). Structuration Theory. In: International Encyclopedia for Human Geography. Elsevier.

Published by Tobias Geerdink (4076923), edited by Jobke Heij on 1st October, 2011