The Sociological Theory Of Habitus

Society is not consisted of innate behaviors, but instead learned interactions and knowledge through symbolic changes. Through these exchanges, habitus is formed. Habitus is the result of practiced exchanges that have been inadvertently taught through past exchanges of culture, language, and knowledge. One cannot escape the way the world imposes these practices, and the practices are constantly occurring and changing, reflecting society. The actions of society are in a way regular, normal, and regulated without any type of law and rules, and does not need to be explicitly stated. Sometimes, however, Habitus can be a calculated operation, in which a practice learned by another is now teaching another the normality and expectations of the culture.

Most of the presentations spoke about the psychological theories about crime and criminals. My habitus is more about the institutional problems of society, not personal troubles. It was hard to understand their research when it did not take into account flawed institutions and its invisible pressures and pulls. My habitus of trying to utilize the sociological imagination was nearly pointless in this setting. Especially when most of the presenters looked at the criminals as the guilty party to their own actions, and how they are the problem of society, while I am more of a Marxist and pessimistic about society. It was hard to see another person’s psychological point of view as to why rapes turn into homicides, when I am interested as to the structures that person was a part of—is there an issue with the institution of marriage? Are there monetary troubles from the 0.01% having all the wealth? Is the person undergoing intense stress from institutional racism? Overall, my habitus of being young in the educational system as a whole, and my personal views and biases of society enveloped me into a feeling of undeserving to be there, and unable to understand the personal troubles of