Discuss Bourdieu’s concept of ‘Habitus’

The phenomenon of consumerism is quiet powerful due to the impact on individual’s lives. Society has come to the point, happiness is associated with consumption. However, the way consumerism works, is if the items being purchased gives temporary happiness. There individuals are always buying the latest products to remain happy. In the text, “The Cult you’re in” Kalle Lasn, discusses a cult-like nature of consumer culture on Americans. Lasn uses the work ‘cult’ as a metaphor; he does not mean an actual cult but American consumers seem to be in a cult-like nature. The ideal example of Lasns argument is the text, “The man behind Abercrombie and Fitch”, Benoit Denizet-Lewis, goes in great depth of the life of the CEO, Mike Jeffries, of

The upper-upper class are those who come from old money, which is inherited from previous generations.This class compose less than 1% of the population, but possess a great deal of power, and influence society. The upper-lowers are those who come from “new money.” Most of these people a famous stars and are sometimes referred to as the “working rich” because they work for the money they earn. Although the upper-lowers may possess more money than the upper-uppers, they often find it difficult to be apart of the upper society.

In reality class always matters and it shapes our interests in life. We all come from different background and ethnicity. I believe that class is shaped mainly by income and occupation. However, many people think if a person is wealthy, therefore, he belongs in the upper class. But there are other factors that define class and it is more than just how much money you have. It can be the network of people that surrounds, traditions, and academic status that can also define class. Many of it has to do in which family you have been born and network that creates it. All of my family members have been born and raised in Russia; they completed universities, got jobs, and had enough income to support a family. “Each of us is born into a family with a particular class identity and class history—sometimes it is a mixed or hybrid identity—but almost always it is part of a network of other relationships—to other families in a community, to work and jobs, and to institutions” (Zandy 112).

Conspicuous consumption is a Marxist concept in which a consumer displays their wealth through items. This concept is displayed during the introduction of Percy Boyd Staunton “His parents were rich, his clothes were fine,and his mittens were of skin…”(Fifth Business 3). This description classes Percy’s family among the elite of society in comparison to Dunstan’s. Percy’s father a dentist, landowner and farmer was the capitalist of Deptford with a very limited economic vision. This upbringing created an adventure capitalist in which similar characteristics can be seen within Percy that can be seen as an addiction that will slowly warp Percy’s fate .

There was a time when social classes were most easily identified through material goods and possessions. Whether wealth was gained through inheritance or hard work, it was the luxury items that made the most visible and tangible statement regarding a person’s social status. Men could rely on a large house or expensive car to proclaim the success they had earned. It was much more common to see women adorned in jewels, designer clothes, and furs as symbols of her upper class status. The extravagance of a woman’s appearance was a reflection of the success of her husband, so it was natural to indulge her desire for expensive material possessions.

“It’s not what you own its what people think you own” (Ewen 183). Consumerism is fueling today’s “middle class”. Stewart Ewen’s “Chosen People” goes into detail about the rise of the materialistic middle class.

The term consumer society goes beyond the mere act of shopping and the functional use of goods with contemporary

Anna Quindlen, a novelist, social critic, and journalist wrote an intriguing essay “Stuff is Not Salvation” about the addiction of Americans, who splurge on materialistic items that have no real meaning. The ability to obtain credit is one of the main reasons to blame for society’s consumption epidemic. However, Quindlen feels the economic decline due to credit card debt is insignificant compared to the underlying issues of American’s binging problems. Quindlen’s essay gives excellent points regarding the differences in America’s typical shopping habits. Additionally, she mentions how people acquire all this “stuff” but seem to never realize, “why did I get this?”(501). Quindlen makes her

The author James B. Twitchell identifies consumerism as being the next evolution of our social behavior. “In our postmodern world we have, it seems, exchanged knowledge of history and science for knowledge of products and how such products interlock to form coherent social patterns” he asserts (Twitchell 321). The implication is that, where we used to rely on crafting items and learning skills for ourselves, we instead find that technological progress has now enhanced the means of production to be so efficient that the value we provide to one another now is not by what we can offer, but by what we decide to buy. These purchase trends are used as a means of forming social connections, and I agree. I have personally observed consumption trends lead to social connections. Certain cultures and sub-cultures have specific styles or looks associated with them. Like-minded or similar interested people can easily identify each other. If an individual is impassioned by rap music, he or she consumes certain brands and types of goods that another person, who’s enthusiastic about country music, would refrain from acquiring.

Bourdieu links habitus to his concept of field. Bourdieu defines field as “a network, or a configuration, of objective relations between positions” (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992:97). A field is an arena in which people and their positions are situated. The habitus of an actor and its accumulated capital determines an actors position in the field (Tabb, 2011:2). In the field power relations are divided in dominant and subordinate positions which is a result of the amount of resources or capital an actor possesses (Naidoo, 2004:458). Students in the educational field all have their own habitus and possess different capital (social, economic and cultural).

The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu approaches the concept of power using a similar concept with Foucault which they presume that power is that there are always structures that are formed by human relationships which dictates how people should behave. These structures influence the individual social life. However, Foucault criticized that he has concept that is radical and broader making it difficult to identify any social context of where the action of exercise of power occurs (Gaventa, 2003). Unlike Bourdieu who narrows down it in terms of symbolically mediated interaction between the Habitus and social structure (Bourdieu, 1991). Culture is example of this symbolic interaction.

Pierre Bourdieu was an acclaimed French sociologist, anthropologist and philosopher, who is still noted today as being one of the most prominent and influential intellects in recent years. He is famous for his contributions to many subjects and areas, and much of his work is still considered today as being classics. His work is considered to be some of the most innovative and groundbreaking bodies of theory and research in contemporary social science. He is still prominent today for his many great contributions to the field of sociology, and though he has many revolutionary concepts, this essay will focus on three; Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and field, and a key sociological factor these concepts help to explain. These three

Famous fashion Designer Gabrielle Coco Chanel (1883-1971) stated that luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends. Similar ideas were acknowledged by the famous economist Veblen (1899), in his book The Theory of the Leisure Class, who explains the concept of conspicuous consumption as the waste of money and/or resources by people to display a higher status than others. Luxury is concept related to status, ego and psychogenic needs; it is not necessary for survival. Luxury goods have always been associated with high quality, craftsmanship, uniqueness, creativity, exclusivity and innovation. Apart from these product attributes, the consumers also get the additional psychological benefits like esteem, prestige and a sense of a high status that reminds them and others that they belong to an exclusive group who can afford these expensive goods.

Growth of research addressing the relationship between culture and consumption is exponential. Thus, culture’s influence on consumption and marketing had drawn increasing attention in recent years. Hofstede’s framework is the most widely used national cultural framework in psychology, sociology, marketing and management studies. His dimensions were all constructed in such a way that they addressed basic problems that all societies have to deal with. Thus, these dimensions of national culture were constructed at the national level namely:

“Mass culture is imposed from above. It is fabricated by technicians hired by businessmen; its audience are passive consumers, their participation limited to the choice between buying and not buying.”