Showing papers on "Habitus published in 2017"
TL;DR: The authors argue that practices of "ability grouping" reflect cultural investments in discourses of natural order and hierarchy, with particular resonance for the discursive and political habitus of middle-class parents.
Abstract: Grouping students by ‘ability’ is a topic of long-standing contention in English education policy, research and practice. While policy-makers have frequently advocated the practice as reflecting educational ‘standards’, research has consistently failed to find significant benefits of ‘ability’ grouping; and indeed has identified disadvantages for some (low-attaining) pupil groups. However, this research evidence has apparently failed to impact on practice in England. This article, contextualised by the authors’ interests in education and social inequality, seeks to do two things. First, it provides a brief analysis of the existing research evidence on the impact of ‘ability’ grouping, with particular reference to socio-economic inequality, identifying seven different explanations for the poorer progress of pupils in low sets that emerge from the literature. Second, it applies Foucaultian ‘analysis of discourse’ to propose potential explanations for the apparent lack of traction of existing research with policy and practice, arguing that practices of ‘ability grouping’ reflect cultural investments in discourses of ‘natural order’ and hierarchy, with particular resonance for the discursive and political habitus of middle-class parents. The authors postulate that investing in a powerful counter-discourse of enlightenment science, illustrated via their current randomised control trial of different approaches to pupil grouping, may offer a means to challenge hegemonic discourses that underpin current classroom practice.
136 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw on data from 20 years of qualitative projects with parents to discuss and analyse four issues: the apparent responsibilities of parents to deliver both the school and home setting which will provide "the best" for their children, the gendering of parental responsibilities, and the class and ethnicity shape parents' relationships with educational institutions.
Abstract: This article draws on data from 20 years of qualitative projects with parents to discuss and analyse four issues. The first is the apparent responsibilities of parents to deliver both the school and home setting which will provide ‘the best’ for their children. Second, the gendering of parental responsibilities. Third, I investigate how class and ethnicity shape parents’ relationships with educational institutions. Drawing on Bourdieu’s conceptual framework, I consider how parents’ habitus and the forms and volumes of capital they both possess and can activate inform their struggles for position in the field of schooling. Fourth, I seek to complicate the binary between middle-class and working-class parents with the former commonly assumed to be powerful and effective in the field of schooling, and the latter powerless and ineffective. I conclude by considering the direction of future research on home–school relations.
125 citations
TL;DR: Bourdieu is known for his research in the areas of education and cultural stratification that led to a number of theoretical contributions informing the social sciences as discussed by the authors, and his interrela...
Abstract: Pierre Bourdieu is known for his research in the areas of education and cultural stratification that led to a number of theoretical contributions informing the social sciences. Bourdieu’s interrela...
106 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the contrasting predispositions of a group of working-class and middle-class undergraduates to using nepotism to gain advantage in the labour market and found that the middle class students, whose habitus was aligned to the field, were more likely to express a willingness to utilise whatever networks they could to secure a "foot in the door".
Abstract: This article explores the contrasting predispositions of a group of working-class and middle-class undergraduates to using nepotism to gain advantage in the labour market. Drawing upon a Bourdieusian framework, it is argued that the middle-class students, whose habitus was aligned to the field, were more likely to express a willingness to utilise whatever networks they could to secure a ‘foot in the door’. Meanwhile, the working-class students, who were more insecure about the legitimacy of their participation within a middle-class field, expressed a commitment to a form of honour which ruled out using contacts on the grounds that it was morally unacceptable. They discussed a desire to ‘prove themselves’ which is arguably symptomatic of a deeply ingrained reliance on meritocracy. I explore how this may arise due to their habitus having developed within a dominated position in society where respectability is crucial to generating feelings of self-worth and value.
63 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an understanding of ethnic and immigrant entrepreneurship is developed by exploring how ethnic and entrepreneurial identities intersect, and how ethnic identity means to individuals and how it intersects with entrepreneurial identity.
Abstract: An understanding of ethnic and immigrant entrepreneurship is developed in this paper by exploring how ethnic and entrepreneurial identities intersect. Bourdieu's concept of habitus frames the analysis of narratives of five post-war Polish entrepreneurs in Leicester. The narrative analysis illuminates the multilayered and nuanced nature of identities. The Polish origin of these entrepreneurs’ habitus was interpreted in light of individual and collective experiences gained growing up in the United Kingdom. While Polish identity was pertinent, it did not define the narrative of entrepreneurship. Our contribution is a theoretically informed, rich qualitative study of what ethnic identity means to individuals and how it intersects with entrepreneurial identity.
63 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that middle-class emerging adults are marked by a focus on exploratory experience consumption: the consumption of novel experiences with cultural capital potential, rooted in a habitus developed during entitled childhoods but also shaped by an anticipated shortage of opportunities for exploration after they marry and have children.
Abstract: This study examines middle-class consumption and lifestyle during the transition to adulthood in the United States. Based on analysis of qualitative data from interviews with emerging adults between adolescence and settled adulthood, we argue that middle-class emerging adulthood is marked by a focus on exploratory experience consumption: the consumption of novel experiences with cultural capital potential. This tacit, embodied orientation is rooted in a habitus developed during entitled childhoods but is also shaped by an anticipated shortage of opportunities for exploration after they marry and have children. Accordingly, middle-class emerging adults voraciously consume exploratory experiences in the present with their imagined future selves in mind. The class basis for this orientation is examined through our analysis of interviews with working-class emerging adults whose lifestyles are characterized not by exploratory experience consumption but by a desire for the familiar, a fear of the unknown, and a longing for stability. The discussion focuses on how the middle-class consumer orientation toward exploratory experiences reinforces class (dis)advantage, life trajectories, and inequality.
60 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify the importance of a sporting habitus and physical capital in individuals' experiences of playing in an asylum seeker football team and suggest that for many men, the asylum seeker team provides an important site for the development and appreciation of "poly-cultural" capital that contributes to forms of resilience and the achievement of other indicators of social inclusion.
Abstract: Australian policy makers and funding organisations have relied heavily on sport as a vehicle for achieving the goals of social cohesion and social inclusion. The generally accepted premise that sport includes individuals in larger social contexts, and in doing so creates positive social outcomes, remains largely untested and uncontested. This article considers the ways in which playing in an asylum seeker football team, located in Melbourne, Australia, facilitates both inclusive and exclusive experiences for its participants. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, life histories, and policy analysis, this article identifies the often-ignored importance of a sporting habitus and physical capital in individuals’ experiences of playing. The success or failure of the asylum seeker team to foster social inclusion is somewhat tenuous as the logic of competition can create conditions counter to those that would be recognised as inclusive. Further, such programmes are faced with sustainability problems, as they are heavily reliant on individuals within the organisation and community to “make things happen”. However, we suggest that for many men, the asylum seeker team provides an important site for the development and appreciation of ‘poly-cultural’ capital that contributes to forms of resilience and the achievement of other indicators of social inclusion.
60 citations
TL;DR: Akcaoglu and Wacquant as discussed by the authors explored the relationship between social space, field, and symbolic power in Bourdieu's work and warned against the seductions of speaking Bourdieuese.
Abstract: In 2014–2015, Aksu Akcaoglu was a visiting scholar in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he had come to work with Loic Wacquant on his research on “the conservative habitus” in contemporary Turkey (with the support of the TUBITAK Science Program). In this dialogue, he invites Wacquant to explicate the philosophy and pedagogy of his celebrated Berkeley seminar on Pierre Bourdieu. This provides an opportunity to revisit key conceptual nodes in Bourdieu’s work, to spotlight its anti-theoreticist cast as well as the influences of Bachelard and Cassirer; to clarify the relationships between social space, field, and symbolic power; and to warn against the seductions of “speaking Bourdieuese.”
59 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored social exclusion in elite professional service firms (PSFs) through a qualitative study of six legal, accounting, investment banking, and consulting firms, finding that all six firms privilege candidates with the same narrow forms of cultural capital, while acknowledging that this contradicts their professed commitment to social inclusion and recruiting the best "talent".
Abstract: This article explores social exclusion in elite professional service firms (PSFs) through a qualitative study of six legal, accounting, investment banking and consulting firms. Employing a Bourdieusian perspective we find that all six firms privilege candidates with the same narrow forms of cultural capital, while acknowledging that this contradicts their professed commitment to social inclusion and recruiting the best ‘talent’. We find that this behaviour is enshrined within the habitus of elite firms. We argue that it represents an organizational strategy generated by a compulsion to achieve legitimacy in a specific field of London-based elite PSFs. We identify a ‘professional project’ of sorts, but argue that this can no longer be mapped on to the interests of a discrete occupational group. As such, we contribute to studies of elite reproduction and social stratification by focusing specifically on the role of elite professional organizations in the reproduction of inequality.
57 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated African Americans' travel behavior using Bourdieu's concept of habitus and found that travel patterns need to be conceived as a defensive mechanism against potential racial discrimination, and that travelers' travel patterns are linked to an acute fear of racism.
Abstract: This study investigated African Americans’ travel behavior using Bourdieu’s concept of habitus. In-depth and face-to-face interviews were conducted with 13 middle-class African Americans. Vignette technique was used during the interviews. The study identified four salient themes: (1) racial discrimination during travel, (2) fear of racism, (3) storytelling and safety instructions: social reproduction of the fear of racism, and (4) race-related travel choices. The findings showed that informants’ travel behavior was linked to an acute fear of racism. They affirmed that African Americans’ travel patterns need to be conceived as a defensive mechanism against potential racial discrimination. Implications for research methods and tourism management are discussed.
54 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the experiences of individuals that feel a lack of cultural capital, which leads to ambiguity regarding their identities and places in the world through in-depth interviews, and found that such individuals may turn to fandom for gaining status and belonging.
Abstract: Identity construction involves accumulating cultural, social, and symbolic capital, with initial endowments being accrued through socialization into one’s habitus. This research explores the experiences of individuals that feel a lack of capital, which leads to ambiguity regarding their identities and places in the world. Through in-depth interviews, this interpretive research shows that such individuals may turn to fandom for gaining status and belonging. Fandoms are consumption fields with clear, limited forms of cultural capital. Through serial fandom and engagement with fandom in different ways, individuals were able to learn the skill of identifying and accruing relevant cultural capital. The skill became decontextualized and recontextualized, allowing individuals to transcend fandom and accrue general forms of cultural capital. Learning the skill aids individuals in dealing with the simultaneously debilitating and empowering freedom of contemporary consumer culture. Moreover, gaining cultura...
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: This article explored the experience of mundane welcome and elaborated the emergent concept, "hospitality life politics" (HLP), referring to hospitality practices invoked by the individual in order to negotiate the world on a day-to-day basis.
TL;DR: A hierarchy of knowledges and power within the healthcare field which determines the forms of knowledge that are legitimate and can operate as capital within this complex and dynamic arena is revealed.
TL;DR: The authors examined the role played by institutions outside school, e.g., church, youth groups and sporting associations in fostering the social and cultural capital required for refugee youth to integrate within the broader community, and to engage successfully in schooling.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the narrative repertoire of the street field, including stories of crime business, violence, drugs and the "hard life", and argue for the inclusion of narrative for understanding street fields.
Abstract: The work of Bourdieu has increasingly gained interest in criminology. His theoretical framework is rich and arguably the most sophisticated approach to social inequality and difference in sociology. It has however, been criticized for bias towards the structural aspects of social life, and for leaving little space for the constitutive, and creative role of language. We argue for the inclusion of narrative for understanding street fields. Based on qualitative interviews with 40 incarcerated drug dealers in Norway, we describe the narrative repertoire of the street field, including stories of crime business, violence, drugs and the ‘hard life’. The narrative repertoire is constituted by street capital, but also upholds and produces this form of capital. Street talk is embedded in objective social and economic structures and displayed in the actors’ habitus. Narratives bind the street field together: producing social practices and social structure.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors combine Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus and cultural capital with Lyotard's account of performativity to construct a three-tiered framework in order to explore how managerialism has affected the academic habitus.
Abstract: This article combines Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus and cultural capital with Lyotard’s account of performativity to construct a three-tiered framework in order to explore how managerialism has affected the academic habitus. Specifically, this article examines the adoption of group assignments as a means of developing teamwork skills in one Australian case study organisation. On a macrolevel, by viewing the employability imperative as one manifestation of managerialism in the higher education field, we argue that managerialism has created a performative culture in the case study organisation evidenced by an increasing emphasis on performance indicators. On a mesolevel, by examining how academics use group assessments to respond to demands made by governments and employers for ‘employable graduates’, we highlight the continuity of academic habitus. Finally, on a microlevel by drawing on alumni reflections regarding their experiences of group assessments at university, we are able to shed some light on their evaluation of this pedagogical tool.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that these MLC students' habitus, one that possesses rich economic, social and cultural capital, prompts a strong sense of entitlement to anticipated privileges, which is disrupted by the differential capital valuations across these fields.
Abstract: Drawing on in-depth interview data from 31 mainland Chinese (MLC) students in a Hong Kong university, this article conceptualises MLC and Hong Kong higher education as two dissonant but interrelated subfields of the Chinese higher education field. The article argues that these MLC students’ habitus, one that possesses rich economic, social and cultural capital, prompts a strong sense of entitlement to anticipated privileges. However, this sense of entitlement is disrupted by the differential capital valuations across these fields. There is thus notable habitus–field disjuncture, which, exacerbated by the hysteresis effect, gives rise to a sense of disappointment and ambivalence. This article demonstrates how the Hong Kong education credential, which these students initially set out to pursue as a form of capital, can become a disadvantage at multiple levels; the article illustrates that capital valuation and conversion in a transborder context is not a straightforward, but rather a complicated and...
TL;DR: It is described how friends were integral in drinking experiences, and drinking with friends was equated with fun and enjoyment, and Bourdieu's theory suggests that population‐level interventions that regulate alcohol consumption, and thus disrupt the field, are likely to facilitate behaviour change among young people by driving a response in habitus.
Abstract: Drinking is viewed by young people as a predominantly social activity which provides an opportunity for entertainment and bonding with friends. Using Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, field and capital, this article explores young people's attitudes and beliefs around alcohol use, influences on behaviour, and the role of peers, with a view to informing the development of preventive interventions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 young people aged 18–20 in the south west of England. We describe how friends were integral in drinking experiences, and drinking with friends was equated with fun and enjoyment. In this way, the desire for social and symbolic capital appeared to be a key motivator for adolescent drinking. Critically, however, wider cultural norms played the predominant role in shaping behaviour, via the internalisation of widely accepted practice and the subsequent externalisation of norms through the habitus. Applying Bourdieu's theory suggests that population-level interventions that regulate alcohol consumption, and thus disrupt the field, are likely to facilitate behaviour change among young people by driving a response in habitus.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors outline and explain the social world of the most committed football supporters in Poland, and argue that fans can no longer be adequately described in terms of the 'hooligan' discourse.
Abstract: The present paper aims to outline and explain the social world of the most committed football supporters in Poland. The analysis proceeds from the assumption that such a community is based on a particular culture established by its own discourses, constituting the habitus of individuals who generate strong social bonds and a normative structure, and is a source of social capital. Since this sub-culture can be understood as a multidimensional sphere, the article argues that fans can no longer be adequately described in terms of the ‘hooligan’ discourse. Although hooligan behaviour has not vanished entirely, it has been pushed out of the stadiums and increasingly functions in a niche outside the immediate context of football. The present article is intended as a contribution to the discussion on European football hooliganism/fandom and its transformation.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors aim to redirect the study of patronage politics toward its quotidian character and acknowledge the key role played by brokers' strong ties with their closest followers to better under-approximate their influence.
Abstract: This article aims to redirect the study of patronage politics toward its quotidian character and acknowledge the key role played by brokers’ strong ties with their closest followers to better under...
TL;DR: The authors explored how working-class young people in Leicester hope and plan for their future as they consider the possibility of attending university and explored how a spatial analysis can contribute towards an understanding of how habitus, hope and aspirations interlock to shape young people's future.
Abstract: In this paper, I explore how working-class young people in Leicester hope and plan for their futures as they consider the possibility of attending university. I respond to Pimlott-Wilson’s [2011. “The Role of Familial Habitus in Shaping Children’s Views of Their Future Employment.” Children’s Geographies 9 (1): 111–118] call for further research to investigate how individual dispositions and habitus affect how young people hope and aspire towards the future. I do this in three ways. First, I empirically test Webb’s [2007. “Modes of Hoping.” History of the Human Sciences 20 (3): 65–83] hope theory to understand how aspirations are formed on an individual and societal level. In doing so, I critically question what is understood by the term ‘aspiration’. This allows me to question what it means for young people to ‘raise aspirations’ towards university. Second, I explore how a spatial analysis can contribute towards an understanding of how habitus, hope and aspirations interlock to shape young people’s futur...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the relationship between school-level variables and students' educational opportunities through the lens of institutional habitus, which is particularly well suited to explore the notion of school culture because it brings to the forefront the impact of social context.
Abstract: This article aims to revisit the relationship between school-level variables and students’ educational opportunities through the lens of institutional habitus. This approach is particularly well suited to explore the notion of school culture because it brings to the forefront the impact of social context, avoiding some of the limitations typically associated with the long-dominant perspective of school effectiveness research. Drawing on an ethnographic approach, the article explores how institutional habitus unfolds in two urban public secondary schools in the city of Barcelona. Breaking the notion down into three main components (educational status, organizational practices and expressive order), the analysis identifies two main types of institutional habitus – one based on action and inclusion, and another based on reaction and expulsion. Ultimately, these results give insight into the complex interplay of these three components, as well as on their combined impact on students’ educational oppor...
TL;DR: Bourdieu’s concept of habitus is used to offer a new way to understand resistance to change (RTC) in organizations.
Abstract: In this paper I use Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to offer a new way to understand resistance to change (RTC) in organizations. The three most prevalent perspectives in mainstream organization deve...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the situation in segregated Roma settlements in Slovakia and highlighted the critical role of power asymmetries at a local level, focusing on affordability, accessibility and quality of water.
Abstract: This article contributes to the emerging critiques of inequalities in the access to water by focusing on three inter-related aspects: affordability, accessibility and quality of water. Based on extensive fieldwork, the paper explores the situation in segregated Roma settlements in Slovakia and highlights the critical role of power asymmetries at a local level. It builds a conceptual framework using Bourdieu’s notions of “social field”, “habitus”, “doxa”, and “capital”, highlighting the central role of power asymmetries at a local level. Insights are drawn on how dominantly positioned social actors command decision-making regarding water supply, and how social hierarchies, inequalities and the “positionality” of Roma as a marginalized group are functional to the lack of political will to address insufficient water access for Roma in any efficient manner.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how the recent Bourdieusian-inspired literature on the "good farmer" might inform our discussion of fishers and their activities, and highlight the importance of these performances in developing social capital and the associated access to networks of support and reciprocity.
TL;DR: This paper examined the learning and enculturation of alumni of a Canadian PhD program in the discipline of education and found that certain existing and acquired academic practices, attributes, dispositions and behaviours collectively formed a type of doctoral capital that alumni can then use in the academic marketplace.
Abstract: This paper draws on Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital and habitus to examine the learning and enculturation of alumni of a Canadian PhD programme in the discipline of Education. We introduce the concept of doctoral capital to help explain how and why some PhD graduates go on to secure faculty positions and others do not. Our research suggests that certain existing and acquired academic practices, attributes, dispositions and behaviours collectively form a type of doctoral capital that alumni can then use in the academic marketplace.
Dissertation•
01 Aug 2017
TL;DR: This article investigated attitudes expressed by UK primary school educators towards children institutionally classified as English as an additional language (EAL) in mainstream schools, an underexplored area.
Abstract: This thesis investigates attitudes expressed by UK primary school educators towards children institutionally classified as English as an Additional Language (‘EAL’) in mainstream schools, an underexplored area. A Critical Discourse Analytical approach is adopted and Martin and White's (2005) APPRAISAL framework utilised for investigating discourses of attitudes is adopted to analyse the research interviews of fifteen participants drawn from six suburban schools in northern England. These participants include head teachers and deputies, EAL co-ordinators, an SEN co-ordinator, a Family Liaison Manager, class teachers, Bilingual Learning Assistants, and Higher Level Teaching Assistants. Their discourses of judgement are analysed in conjunction with Bourdieu’s theory of practice constructs (1977) in order to explore the entrenched linguistic and societal ideologies within them.
Findings suggest that judgements of linguistic and social capital made by participants reveal aspects of their habitus, the series of dispositions guiding their behaviours and attitudes, while also showing that attitudes to language are often conflated with attitudes to other social identities. A monolingual ideology is engrained amongst educators, with (Standard) English uncontested in its dominance in education; discourses that expose the power of teachers in controlling what is seen as the legitimate language of the school.
There are many contradictions present in participants’ discourses around the value of bi/ multi-lingualism and home language maintenance. Analysis of attitudinal discourse highlights the importance of school leadership for the creation of a positive school climate in working with children who speak languages beyond English.
The significance of this work includes filling a research gap regarding studies on teachers’ attitudes and the contribution of a more positive designation for the children at the heart of this study. Recommendations for consciousness- and awareness-raising professional development are made. Observations are made regarding APPRAISAL for analysis for researchers using the framework, only recently applied to research interview data.
TL;DR: This article investigated the childrearing strategies and discourses of wealthy and affluent parents living in and around New York City and found that parents cultivate an appropriate habitus of privilege, rather than significantly limiting their children's material or experiential advantages.
Abstract: Recent research on parenting and social class has identified cultivation strategies that focus on expanding children’s skills and advantages, but such work has not looked specifically at parenting among elites. Drawing on 50 in-depth interviews, this article investigates the childrearing strategies and discourses of wealthy and affluent parents living in and around New York City. Concerned about raising “entitled” children, elite parents employ strategies of constraint (on behavioral and material entitlements) and exposure (to less advantaged social others) to produce morally “good people.” However, these strategies stand in tension with another significant parental concern: the expansion of both children’s selfhood and their opportunities. Ultimately, though not quite intentionally, parents cultivate an appropriate habitus of privilege, rather than significantly limit their children’s material or experiential advantages. Parents’ discourses about constituting not-entitled subjects are important for two reasons. One, they illuminate the struggles of liberal elites to be morally worthy in an environment marked by extreme inequality, challenging assumptions about the instrumentality of their action. Two, they reveal the affective and behavioral bases of legitimate entitlement more generally: what matters is how people act and how they feel, not what they have.