Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 14:13:33 -0800 (PST)
From: Patrick Scott <scott931-AT-uidaho.edu>
Subject: Habitus as a mode of control




Tony Lack wrote: 

> Habitus does seem to be function as a mode of CONTROLLING an unstable,
> threatening, environment.


I'm having a problem with conceiving of habitus as a tool with which to
control one's environment because Bourdieu states that the habitus is in a
dialectical relationship with the field.  I suppose it might depend on
your definition of environment; to me, it seems that the natural
circumstances occupy a position of varying influence within (every?)
field.  If "environment" is accepted as a more broad term to encompass the
whole of a culture's social topography, it seems that we are talking about
fields--in which case habitus can never CONTROL the environment, because
that would only occur in a situation where the dialectic had become fused.

Qu'en pensez-vous?

-Pat Scott
U Idaho Anthropology
scott931-AT-uidaho.edu




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