Relationship of Societal Institutions and the Concept of Habitus

American culture has been referred to as a “melting pot.” Different cultures have added their own distinct aspects to society, making America a diverse country. Despite the plethora of cultures, certain norms, mores, and folkways are evident in American society. These ideas are vital to the function and stability of America. They provide guidelines for what is acceptable and not. In virtually every society, there are people who engage in deviant behavior and do not abide by the values that the rest of society follows. Theorists have debated if people are socialized into acting this way and if it is a social or personal problem. The sociological study of culture focuses on norms, mores, and folkways.

An individual will inevitably relate a personal understanding to a historical event or to a cultural situation. When I travel to my father’s village in Greece, I often find things that people do strange. Although I have been to many Western and Southern European countries, including other places in Greece, I still find the beliefs and customs in my father’s village strange. This is because through the sociological imagination I have come to accept certain types of behavior as normal. In my father’s village, greetings amongst close family friends are always formal.

In the reading The Erosion of Classic Norms by Renato Rosaldo, the author attempts to persuade his readers to recognize that “cultures are learned, not genetically encoded”(2). We are born without a culture and as a social animal we acquire a set of beliefs, values and assumptions as a member of a society, influenced by the immediate surrounding. This set of beliefs, values and assumptions that we adopt refers to culture. For culture is a powerful tool for human survival, Rosaldo highlights the importance of global dexterity for a successful cross-cultural understanding. “Because the range of human possibilities is so great, one cannot predict cultural patterns from one case to the next, except to say that they will not match.

An individual’s biographical surroundings hold power over their behaviour and awareness of society, this can be otherwise called the “sociocultural perspective” which was developed from Lev Vygotsky, a Russian Psychologist who believed culture alongside family and peers had an enormous effect on the individual. It is argued that society not only controls our movements, but “shapes our identity out though and our emotions” (Punch et al,22). Throughout history individuals have shaped and moulded their involvement in society, be it premediated or otherwise. However, C. Wright Mills stated that we are “seldom aware of the intricate connection between the patterns of their own lives and the course of world history” (Mills,

In a community some form of order is an essential foundation for people to live and interact together. ‘’Order is part of the way people both imagine and practise their social existence.’’ (Silva et al., 2009, p. 311) Taylor (2004, p.58) argued that ‘’ the human capacity to imagine order is at the foundation of society itself.’’ (Taylor, cited in Silva et al., 2009 p.311) Social order draw in imagination, practices, the fitting together of people and things, and ideas about the past and the future. (Silva et al., 2009)There are many explanations of how social order is produced, Erving Goffman (1959, 1971 and 1972) and Michel Foucault

Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital relates to the symbolic characteristics namely skills, tastes and preferences, mannerisms, material goods, credentials etc. that a person gains by virtue of his or her membership of a particular social class. Bourdieu emphasizes on the importance of cultural capital as a major source of social inequality. Rooted in the Bourdieu concept of cultural capital is the aspect of social environment which he called the ’habitus’. According to him, one’s habitus will allow or not allow him or her to progress in life (Bourdieu, 1986). As regards this concept of habitus, it can be said that one’s social identity/nationality may or may not offer him or her opportunities in life. The concept of habitus can be likened to the concept of social capital (Portes, 1998:6) which refers to the ability of

No individual can arrive at the threshold of his potentialities without a culture in which he participates. Conversely, no civilization has in it any element that the last analysis is not the contribution of an individual. Where else could any trait come from except from the behaviour of a man or a woman or a child? (253)

Bourdieu has multiple concepts another one being habitus which is the physical embodiment of cultural capital, to the deeply ingrained habits, skills, and dispositions that we possess due to our experiences throughout life. In the video people like us it referenced peoples

The study of culture explains the interconnections between like- minded people, in regards to their values and beliefs. From the dominant culture or the mainstream, deviant groups, who form subcultures materialise, where attitudes and expected behaviours change (University of Colorado, 2010). McCracken (2012) suggested that some subcultures emerge in opposition to mainstream cultures; however, Pierre Bourdieu theorises that “…whilst some subcultures emerge in opposition to the mainstream, others emerge organically…” (O’Connor 2004). In alignment with McCracken’s theory (2012), it is evident that the emergence of Hippies was in opposition to the dominant, mainstream American culture. This can be explained through the application of Albert Cohen’s hypotheses. Contrastingly, in allegiance with Bourdieu’s hypothesis, the subculture of Hipsters arose organically from mainstream culture, which, is evidenced in the application of Clifford Greetz’s theory.

People have different culture backgrounds which are very special to them. Usually families’ tradition and thoughts are affected by their cultural backgrounds. Environment is one of the most important factors in a human’s development. When the term "environment" is used, it refers to factors such as family and cultural tie. In today's society, each individual is living his or her life in different a way than others.' Individual’s life choice is generally controlled, learned, influenced, and raised by the cultural background. “Two kinds’ by Amy Tan and “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich reveal how family is important and precious in culture.

According to French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, a habitus is referring to a person’s way of thinking, acting, and behaving. A habitus is a structure that helps a person comprehend and deal with society. It can be simply seen as a merger of society and the individual. (Wysocka, Paulina, 2013). Habitus is both a “structured structure”—the effect of the actions of, and our interactions with, others—and a “structuring structure”—it suggests and constrains our future actions (Bourdieu, 1992). In other words, habitus is both the “embodiment of our social location” (i.e., class, ethnicity, race, sexuality, gender, generation, and nationality) (Noble & Watkins, 2003) and “the structure of social relations that generate and give significance

From the time I was born, I was given certain characteristics that follow through my life which creates limits on opportunities that I can obtain. Every person has a unique way of expressing themselves because no one grew up exactly the same. I wouldn’t have my own identity if I didn’t carry morals and beliefs I had while growing up. I also gained characteristics that represent me from the society we live in today. Thinking of the daily tasks I partake in and how I do them in a certain way makes me wonder why I do it. Sociological imagination determines how individuals in society differ from one another based on their historical or social circumstances. This essay will define sociological imagination, and how race, religion, and gender

The study of culture allows an individual to research and investigate the ways in which ‘culture’ can create and transform a being through individual and shared experiences, everyday life and power. The subject closely examines ways in which a person’s identify is shaped by their encounters with people, texts, institutions and overall understanding. Over time many cultural theorists have put forward many ideas and notions surrounding culture and its affect on one’s self identity, social identity and therefore subjectivity. Theorists such as, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu and Judith Butler are a minor fraction of academics that believe that subjectivity is not inherent and naturally occurring but dynamic and adaptable according to society and our ever-changing culture. It is through the concepts of performativity and habitus that the ideas surrounding subjectivity being dynamic and fluid are presented.

In 1934 French sociologist Marcel Mauss wrote an article called “Techniques of the Body”. Mauss’ article outlines his personal experience of the First World War and the need to change 8000 spades in the trenches because English troops were unable to use French spades. This is because the French had learnt a different way of digging compared to the English, and learning to use the other type of spade could only happen by slow learning. To capture the way in which we are formed by these learned techniques of being and doing, Mauss coined the term habitus defined as 'the techniques and work of collective and individual practical reason.' (Mauss, 101:

When these roles are made available to other members of society to enter into and play out, the reciprocal interactions are said to be institutionalized. In the process of this institutionalization, meaning is embedded in society. The society is formed by certain objectives or norms that they all have in common. This is the reason why they become institutionalized in the first place. It is important to keep in mind that the objectivity of the institutional world, however massive it may appear to the individual, is a humanly produced, constructed objectivity. The process by which the externalized products of human activity attain the character of objectivity is called objectivation. The institutional world is objectivated by human activity, and so is every single institution. In other words, despite the objectivity that marks the social world in human experience, it does not thereby acquire an ontological status apart from the human activity that produced it. At the same point, the institutionalized world also requires legitimation, that is, ways by which it can be “explained” and justified. This is not because it appears less real. As we have seen, the reality of the social