Habitus Essay

Habitus is defined as “A set of acquired dispositions of thought, behaviour and taste.” (Scott and Marshall, 2009). The concept was created by Pierre Bourdieu and was first used in his book Outline of Theory and Practice in 1977. His theory of habitus derives from the philosophy of Aristotle. Bourdieu looked at how society can influence a person’s self and whether certain aspects of society can be aesthetically seen on the individual. These choices are influenced by many factors.
“The position into which we are born as an individual – our family, neighbourhood, social contacts, social class, gender, ethnicity, and the beliefs and values in which we are educated – will put a sizable imprint on the self we become.” (Burkitt, I, 2008, p. 3)
The quote above demonstrates how many different factors all input into the person that we become. A person’s habitus is all of those factors within them. Not only does the habitus concern a person’s behaviour and morals, the habitus also affects the choices a person makes about their body. “Through the habitus, society is impressed on the individual, not only in mental habits, but even more in corporeal ones.” (Hanks, 2005) The habitus is formed from the collective structure of the group the individual is part of, such as social class sub-groups. It is also formed from the individual experiences that the person goes through.
In relation to the relationship between social class and the self, part of the habitus is the attitudes towards body. It is believed that the attitude a person has towards their body is an indication of social class and is defined by the person’s habitus. “Working-class attitudes to bodies are marked by the demands of getting by in life and the temporary release from the dem...

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... such as furniture and clothes. Therefore there is no longer any individuality in the choices, behaviour and morals a person has due to the major influences. Peer pressure, negative and positive influences from other people that the individual knows is different to what they would choose to do also means that the habitus is no longer a useful or reliable indicator of the self. Thus, no longer a strong indicator of the social class a person is from. Therefore it is to be concluded that the concept of habitus does still play an important role in understanding the relationship between social classes and the self but as technology and society progresses the choices we make, which is down to habitus, are not necessarily due to the social class that an individual is in. We are all becoming more and more similar as the years progress and individualism is becoming clouded.