Kiara Girkins Defining Habitus

Kiara Girkins- Response to Anthony King’s “Thinking with Bourdieu against Bourdieu”
April 14, 2008

Habitus is a complex concept, but in its simplest usage could be understood as a set of acquired patterns of thought, behavior, and taste, (Habitus). Aristotle first explored the idea of habitus in relation to philosophy believing that habitus is a philosophical notion as it relates to thought and state of mind, (Habitus). By this Aristotle meant that habitus is based upon the way one perceives their surroundings and believes they should interact with it. Marcel Mauss later defined habitus as “body techniques,” which are the aspects of culture that are anchored in the body or daily practices of individuals, groups, societies and nations, (Habitus). Habitus explores the totality of learned habits, bodily skills, styles, tastes and other “non-discursive” knowledge, (Habitus). Such “body techniques” may differ between cultures, even if they live within the same habitat. Pierre Bourdieu is one of the latest thinkers to re-construct the idea of habitus. Bourdieu set out to include a person’s beliefs and dispositions in the definition of habitus. In other words, factors such as religion and morals are greatly influential when constructing one’s habitus. These dispositions include the ideas of perception, thought and action as they are developed by external factors, including family and education. Sociologist, Anthony King of the University of Exeter, says in reference to Bourdieu’s theory that,“The habitus which consists of corporal dispositions and cognitive templates overcomes subject-object dualism by inscribing subjective, bodily actions with objective social force so that the most apparently subjective individual acts take on social meaning,” (King, pg. 417). Such insight into habitus provides reasoning behind why differing cultures can live so differently on the same land.

Anthony King (200). “Thinking with Bourdieu against Bourdieu: A 'Practical' Critique of the Habitus,” Sociological Theory, Vol. 18, No. 3, (November 2000), pg. 417-433. Published by the American Sociological Association.

"Habitus" Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www.wikipedia.habitus.com.