The Role of Habitus in Creating Inequalities: A Sociological Analysis

This essay examines Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus, a sociological theory explaining how individuals' social behaviors, attitudes, and mannerisms are shaped by their experiences and social environment. The essay delves into the two dimensions of habitus, 'hexis' (physical aspects) and the mental state, and how they evolve over time influencing life opportunities. It further explores the role of habitus in creating inequalities within society, particularly in economic and political spheres, by analyzing how differing attitudes and behaviors lead to varying levels of success and influence. Finally, the essay discusses the impact of cultural capital, such as education, on perpetuating these inequalities, referencing examples like Oxford University's efforts to promote inclusion and highlighting the challenges faced by economically disadvantaged individuals. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of considering diverse backgrounds and ensuring equitable access to opportunities, advocating for policies that promote meritocracy while addressing systemic disadvantages.

Running head: PIERRE BOURDIEU’S CONCEPT OF HABITUS
Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of Habitus
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PIERRE BOURDIEU’S CONCEPT OF HABITUS
1. A. Concept of ‘habitus’ as defined by Pierre Bourdieu
Habitus refers to the human social reactions to the very occurring in the world around
them. Such reactions are found to be similar in nature among the people who have certain
similarities with each other (Bourdieu, 2017). Such similarities can be in the form of their
religious tendencies, the nationality they share, their ethnic background and other such similar
grounds. Such habitus is developed within a person by the way of imitation. They are not taught
to the individuals in a formal manner.
Pierre Bourdieu, a well renowned French sociologist, is known for the development of
the theory of Habitus (Wacquant, 2016). He suggested that the concept of habitus consist of two
dimensions. The first is known as ‘hexis’ which is the inclination for a person to conduct oneself
in a proper manner in the community, such as that of perfecting the posture in which they stand
in. As a result, ‘hexis’ refers to the physical side of habitus. On the other hand, the second
dimension of habitus refers to the mental status of a person (Reed-Danahay, 2017). This includes
the level of perception as enjoyed by a particular individual, the way they feel about appreciation
and rejection and also how they react to certain situations. Such habits change with the changes
in times. Since such habits are not inculcated in to an individual in a formal manner, with every
change in the situation, the reaction given by an individual also changes. This is due to the fact
that the intuitions of a person changes as they grow and develop over time (Reay, 2015). They
understand certain things which they were unaware of in the past. As a result of their
experiences, they grow more and react in a different way to a particular situation to which they
might have given a different reaction in the past.
The moral attitudes of a person, the values they hold, their reaction and behavior, all that
which forms a part of the habitus, have a way of influencing the different life opportunities of a

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person. This is applicable for both the past actions as well as defining the future prospects of the
concerned individuals (Maggio, 2018). One example of habitus is that of the values one holds
towards the elders in the society. Often times it can be observed that during childhood, one fails
to give the necessary respect to the elders. However, this changes when they start to realize how
valuable and indispensable the elders are for maintaining the social structure of the community.
B. Role that habitus plays in creating inequalities in the society
The habitus refers to the various behaviors, the attitudes and mannerism held by the
people of the society. The individuals who have certain identical characteristics with each other,
forms a separate class of people with a particular habitus. In this regard, it can be stated that
habitus plays a significant role in creating inequalities in a society (Rojas-Rivas et al., 2019). For
instance, the economic inequality within a society arises from the differences in the amount of
wealth held by the different people of the society. Such differences usually arise due to the fact
that a particular individual or group of individual is properly able to exploit the different
resources of the earth. This follows from the fact that they have the right attitude and behavior to
do so (Blommaert, 2015). However, the other people of the society are unable to exploit such
opportunity due to a lack of their capabilities and the needed attitude and behavior. This in turn,
leads to the differences in the level of income held by the people of the community.
Another inequality that can be observed is with regard to the political inequality. The
political stance held by an individual usually flows from the different observations made by them
in the course of their life time (Bourdieu, 2018). The various debates they over hear in their
family as well as observations made by the people of their peer groups, all play an important role
in shaping the political views of a person. Since they are developed over the course of one’s life

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time, they form a part of the habitus of the person. Thus, it can be said that habitus plays a
significant role in creating political inequality within a society.
Habitus is usually dependent upon the social position enjoyed by an individual. The stay
of n individual within a social frame work exposes him or her to a variety of opinions and
viewpoints. All of them have an influential role to play in the growth of the personality of the
people (Dean, 2016). Some people may be heavily influenced by a particular set of values and
customs while others may be influenced by a different set of traditions. This, in turn, creates
inequality in the society with respect to the sociological values held by the people.
C. Impact of cultural capital on the people of the society
Cultural capital refers to the various resources that are available to the privileged people
of the society to uphold their power and dominance. This can be observed in the field of
education as well. Every powerful people of the society wants to provide the best education to
their children in the hopes that the acquired knowledge would help them to improve their life
chances in the future. In this respect, a news was published on 28th May 2019 where it was stated
that the Oxford University would give the privilege to the disadvantaged students of the society
to enter the university with grades lower than the pupils who belong to an affluent background
("Why inclusion isn’t working", 2019). This measure has been taken so that the university is not
accused of being socially exclusive in nature. This announcement is not a surprise to the world of
education as education is meant to empower the students. However, often times it has been
observed that in spite of the initiative of the universities to include people only on merit, still
people with privilege find their way through. On the other hand, those who are economically and
socially disadvantaged, cannot find their way through the best colleges of the world ("Why

4PIERRE BOURDIEU’S CONCEPT OF HABITUS
inclusion isn’t working", 2019). This is due to the fact that the economically weaker people are
unable to afford education which is up to the standard.
In order to prevent this situation, the different universities of the world, especially that of
the Oxford University has taken up the initiative to make itself more inclusive in nature. This is
only possible when the different handicaps of the economically weaker sections of the society
are considered for ("Why inclusion isn’t working", 2019). In other words, it is important for the
universities to ensure that people from different fields of life are represented in the universities.
Education should not be denied to anyone just because they do not have the necessary ‘cultural
capital’. Monetary resources should not hold a person back from attaining higher education. In
this respect, the different universities need to ensure that policies are formulated in a way that is
found to be favorable to nearly everyone in the society. However, care needs to be taken that
only those people are included in the university who are meritorious in nature ("Why inclusion
isn’t working", 2019). The privileged people of the society should not have access to the
prestigious universities of the world simply because they have the monetary resources.

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References:
Blommaert, J. (2015). Pierre Bourdieu: Perspectives on language in society. In Handbook of
pragmatics 2015 installment (pp. 1-16). John Benjamins.
Bourdieu, P. (2017). Habitus. In Habitus: A sense of place (pp. 59-66). Routledge.
Bourdieu, P. (2018). Structures, habitus, practices. In Rethinking the Subject (pp. 31-45).
Routledge.
Dean, J. (2016). Class diversity and youth volunteering in the United Kingdom: Applying
Bourdieu’s habitus and cultural capital. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector
Quarterly, 45(1_suppl), 95S-113S.
Maggio, R. (2018). Pierre Bourdieu's Outline of a Theory of Practice. Macat Library.
Reay, D. (2015). Habitus and the psychosocial: Bourdieu with feelings. Cambridge Journal of
Education, 45(1), 9-23.
Reed-Danahay, D. (2017). Bourdieu and critical autoethnography: Implications for research,
writing, and teaching. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 19(1), 144-154.
Rojas-Rivas, E., Espinoza-Ortega, A., Thomé-Ortíz, H., Moctezuma-Pérez, S., & Cuffia, F.
(2019). Understanding consumers' perception and consumption motives towards
amaranth in Mexico using the Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical concept of
Habitus. Appetite, 139, 180-188.
Wacquant, L. (2016). A concise genealogy and anatomy of habitus. The Sociological
Review, 64(1), 64-72.

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Why inclusion isn’t working. (2019). Spiked-online.com.