June 2023

Who are you? Pierre Bourdieu’s ‘habitus’ Ms Susan Garson, Director of the Centre for School-wide Pedagogy

Sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, began his writings in 1960s France. His goal was to investigate social inequality, paying particular attention to the French schooling system. Bourdieu’s social theory seeks to ‘uncover the most profoundly buried structures of the various social worlds which constitute the social universe, as well as the “mechanisms” which tend to ensure their reproduction or their transformation’ (Bourdieu, 1989a, p. 7 cited in Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 7). Specifically, Bourdieu’s concept of habitus (dispositions and actions) offers another lens to reflect upon who we are as teachers, and how we came to be. Habitus Bourdieu’s habitus is the linchpin to understanding ‘the social embodied’ or ‘socialised subjectivity’ (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1992, p. 126, 128). Habitus is not fate, but rather the history of an individual that plays out in a space. Habitus situates an individual in practice or activity. Bourdieu explains habitus as ‘durable, transposable dispositions, structured structures predisposed to function as structuring structures’, that are played out in the form of the body (Bourdieu, 1990, p. 53; Costa and Murphy, 2015). Working in a particular space, then, involves employing habitus or enacting dispositions at an unconscious level (Thomson, 2017). Habitus causes the reproduction of conditioning that generates an individual’s ‘thoughts, perceptions, expressions, and actions’ (Bourdieu, 1990, p. 55).

This conditioning is socially constructed and begins with an individual’s immersion in their familial and educational background (Thomson, 2017). It is often linked to social class, in that members of the same class are more likely to have experienced similar situations to others in that class (Thomson, 2017). Habitus can also explain a person’s vision linked to their personal history and positioning within that history (Bourdieu, 2004). Indeed, individuals carry perceptions and beliefs with them which are formed in their early years, that are then transformed into actions as they interact in different spaces in the future (Stahl cited in Costa and Murphy, 2015). Some individuals in an organisation, such as a school, share habitus with others, while some will differ greatly (Emirbayer and Johnson, 2008). This is the reality of different leaders and teachers who come from different backgrounds, working together. It is not always without struggle. Habitus can sometimes be perceived as an elusive or abstract concept, but it often becomes visible in arenas of struggle or

contradiction (France cited in Costa and Murphy, 2015). An individual’s habitus is, therefore, a grounding force, a process of becoming, as well as a source of influence on a person’s practice. Bourdieu’s notion of habitus operates as a subjective force and is socially constructed over time as a result of different experiences. With that in mind, I offer a few prompts for you: • Think back to what you learned about education from your family or from your formative schooling experiences. What were the key messages? • What lived experiences have shaped you as a person, as a teacher? • Can you identify any critical turning points that prompted change? • Have previous teachers or mentors shaped you? • Who are you now as an educator, as a result of your history? • Have you been affected by your history and sought to transform it?

Sources Bourdieu, P. (2004). Science of Science and Reflexivity (R. Nice, Trans.). University of Chicago Press. Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. (1992). An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Polity Press. Bourdieu, P. (1990). The Logic of Practice (R. Nice, Trans.). Polity Press. Costa, C., and Murphy, M. (Eds.). (2015). Bourdieu, Habitus and Social Research: the art of application. Palgrave MacMillan. Emirbayer, M., and Johnson, V. (2008). Bourdieu and organizational analysis. Theory and Society, 37 (1), 1-44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-007-9052-y Thomson, P. (2017). Educational Leadership and Pierre Bourdieu. Routledge.

School-wide Pedagogy Newsletter June Edition 2023

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