File spoon-archives/bourdieu.archive/bourdieu_1999/bourdieu.9903, message 76


Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 13:08:13 -0600
From: Deborah Kilgore <kilgore-AT-unix.tamu.edu>
Subject: Re: Bourdieu and love


Your point about male and female habitus is a good one, Simon.  

on the other hand, we can look at the love relationship as a subfield
where positions are taken, rather than as a class of like habitus.  this
solves the problem of the male/female differences, and it positions a
particular kind of love relationship within the larger field of love
relationships (and the larger field of power) according (in part) to its
socioeconomic and cultural status and the status required of the
positions within it.  thus, working class love relationships may be
qualitatively distinct from those of the rich and famous and those of
the intelligentsia, etc. etc.  homosexual love relationships are also
qualitatively distinct and can be sociologically studied in this sense. 
this sort of does away with your idea of complementary differences by
this token.  

but i think the habitus (their similarities and their complementary
differences) do contribute to the conservation of the logic of love
(don't you romantics hate how i said that - hee hee).

it's a fascinating problem, and one likely to sell an enormous number of
books.

regards, 


***********************
Deborah Kilgore     
Texas A&M University
Fue tan bello vivir cuando vivias!
How lovely it was to live while you lived!
- Pablo Neruda, from "Final"

Simon Emsley wrote:
> 
> Dear list,
> 
> On the question of similarities in habitus being allied to romantic love,
> the first problem that pops into my head on this is the dissimilarity
> between male and female habitus which structures an enormous division of
> power across the social world. If love operates across this division, then
> similarity of habitus doesn't seem a condition of love. The other way round
> if anything. Perhaps an idea of complementary differences in habitus which
> serve to strengthen the productive output of the loving couple might be
> another late night theory of love under Bourdieu's moon.
> 
> Simon Emsley
>
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