Discuss Bourdieu’s concept of ‘Habitus’

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The essay will explore the concepts of ‘Habitus’ and how it can form a personal taste. In order to discover if taste can be considered to be truly personal, it is important to first investigate on the ideas of consumer culture and how meaning can be created. There are a number of theorists that need to be pointed out when talking about this subject matter, such as; Slater, Bourdieu, Lury and Miller. There will also be a slight touch on the key aspects of semiotics and semiology as this tool will be used in order to apply the main theories to practice. So as to carry this out, the theorist Barthes will be studied as well. According to Slater (1997:26), ‘consumer culture is, in principle, universal and impersonal’. The notion behind this is that consumer culture is believed to be something that is in general for everyone and not specifically personal to you. The variance between production and consumption is growing larger for the reason that, individuals would now rather consume an item that is already available to them instead of producing items themselves. People would now work in their jobs to earn money just so they can spend it on items that someone else has produced as their job. It is a process that goes round in a circle; work, leisure, work, leisure. Slater (1997:8) also mentions that, ‘consumption is always and everywhere a cultural process, but ‘consumer culture’—a culture of consumption—is unique and specific: it is the dominant mode of cultural reproduction developed in the west over the course of modernity’. This explains the concept of meaning and how there are meaning of things in the uses of consumption. Things involve meaning for the reason that consumption is cultural. Meaning is created through the cultural val... ... middle of paper ... ...ent and the style shown is informal and relaxed. This ad is addressed to the theory that says working classes have no time for the reason that Twix is a quick snack chocolate bar and does not need a lot of time to consume. Additionally, it would appeal to the lowbrow because it’s all about eating it fast and not caring about the actual taste. Therefore, Twix contains a lot of fat in it and is not made with great care or quality. Works Cited Barthes, Roland. (1977). Image Music Text. New York: Hill and Wang. Bourdieu, Pierre. (1986). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Lury, Celia. (1996). Consumer Culture. Cambridge: UK: Polity Press. Miller, Daniel. (1987). Material Culture and Mass consumption. Oxford, UK: B. Blackwell. Slater, Don. (1997). Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge, England: Polity Press.

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