File spoon-archives/bourdieu.archive/bourdieu_1999/bourdieu.9912, message 35


From: "kent strock" <sigmund5-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: habitus
Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 12:04:34 PST


Very well put Emrah!  I think that B. "post"-structuralism could be better 
understood in RELATION to Derrida and his work and the functioning of 
language and why Boudieu,I am often wondering, never acknowledges him. 
Suppose its just a strategy of distinction.


>From: Emrah Goker <emrah_goker-AT-hotmail.com>
>Reply-To: bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>To: bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>Subject: Re: habitus
>Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 21:32:30 EET
>
>To the ongoing discussion about the "is" of habitus, I think it would be
>useful to remind that the concepts and categories of generative
>structuralism would always avoid being "pinned down" by exact definitions,
>clear statements, "yeah-that-is-what-I-looked-for" kind of "to the point"
>propositions. They are, if you let me to bring in some journalism,
>manufactured for use in the Atelier, not to be placed on the altar of the
>Temple and worshipped there.
>
>That is how Bourdieu justifies his claim to transcend objectivism and
>subjectivism: Theory's toolbox is always research-oriented, not for
>logocentric philosophical fetishism. In the case of habitus, Bourdieu of
>course has to pronounce some sentences about habitus like "structured and
>structuring structure" and the vagueness here is intended. Habitus is
>meaningless until it accounts for something in reality. It depends on your
>research interests how you will render the concept meaningful. You can
>choose to study the practices of brokers in New York Stock Exchange using
>habitus, where you'll also have to include a degree of "ratioal 
>calculation"
>(and yet on second thought, isn't another "religion" at work there?). It is
>also possible to study revolutionary action using habitus. The catch here
>is, I guess, properly pinpointing the relations between "positions" and
>"dispositions". We have to abandon thinking about people in terms of 
>"either
>body or mind", or even in terms of "body and mind".
>
>Remember the Nephew: Mauss was trying to tell something, struggling to get
>rid of the symbolic violence of Durkheim's unproductive dichotomies, by his
>proposal of Total Man.
>
>This is not a direct and satisfactory answer to the questions raised, I
>know. Just a crucial point to hold in mind while thinking about habitus.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Emrah Goker
>
>>From: Karl Maton <karl.maton-AT-dtn.ntl.com>
>>Reply-To: bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>>To: bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>>Subject: Re: habitus
>>Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 15:44:58 +0100
>>
>>This is a good question which, IMHO, highlights the one issue I really
>>feels needs development in the concept of 'habitus', namely the question
>>of what the structure of a habitus is.  It is one thing to say that my
>>habitus is a structured and structuring structure, but as it stands, the
>>concept doesn't enable us to express what that structure is, as a
>>system.  One has to point to the empirical realisations of the habitus,
>>i.e. one's practices.  Given this, the notion of habitus may fragment,
>>so that one ends up talking of someone's 'pedagogic habitus', their
>>'female habitus', their 'going to the bathroom habitus'.
>>
>>Or, to put it another way, how can we say when one habitus is different
>>to, the same as, or a variation of another habitus?  There isn't a means
>>of saying that Karl's habitus is X, and Deborah's habitus is Y; or that
>>we have the same structure of habitus.
>>
>>This isn't saying that the concept isn;t very important; simply that it
>>needs developing.  (And PB does at least say that the theory should
>>develop).
>>All the best,
>>
>>Karl
>>
>>
>>Deborah Kilgore wrote:
>> >
>> > I have another question regarding habitus, that has been on my mind 
>>over
>> > the last few weeks.  Let's say one believes in the postmodern notion of
>> > multiple subjectivity.  An excellent example is found in "Under the 
>>Sign
>>of
>> > Hope" by Leslie Bloom, in which a female corporate executive is facing 
>>a
>> > situation where a male executive is accused of sexual harrassment.  She
>> > describes her response & practices as a woman, and also her response &
>> > practices as an executive, among other positions from which she faces
>>the
>> > situation - all of which collide to an extent and result in a creative
>>set
>> > of behaviors.  How would habitus be discussed/conceptualized then?
>> >
>> > Sorry for piggybacking...
>> >
>> > Debbie
>> >
>> > At 12:30 PM 12/7/99 +0100, you wrote:
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >Kent Lofgren schrieb:
>> > >>
>> > >> Hi, I have a question about habitus. The question is based on some
>> > >> interesting discussion I had w. my friend and colleague Mattias
>>Johnsson.
>> > >> the question builds on some premisses. They are: Bourdieu argues 
>>that
>> > >> habitus deals with sort of the everyday situations and is sort of an
>> > >> automatic reaction to things that happen around the individual. 
>>O.k.?
>>(This
>> > >> is in a very simple and straight forward language). Also (second
>>premiss):
>> > >> the rational calculating/thinking (by an individual) is thereby
>>something
>> > >> else (than habitus).
>> > >
>> > >I think there is a problem with the premisses. Habitus is not only 
>>'for
>> > >every days situations'. It is something you can't change fast. It is
>> > >incorporated. So I think  Habitus goes before rational
>> > >calculating/thinking. You can just do this in the frame of your
>>habitus.
>> > >
>> > >Bye
>> > >Susanne
>> > >**********************************************************************
>> > >Contributions: bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>> > >Commands: majordomo-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
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>> > >
>> > >
>> > Deborah Kilgore
>> > Assistant Professor
>> > Educational Leadership & Policy Studies
>> > Iowa State University
>> > N 232 Lagomarcino Hall
>> > Ames, IA  50011-3195
>> > office) 515-294-9121 email) dkilgore-AT-iastate.edu
>> > **********************************************************************
>> > Contributions: bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>> > Commands: majordomo-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>> > Requests: bourdieu-approval-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>>
>>--
>>With best wishes,
>>
>>Karl
>>
>>Karl Maton
>>School of Education, University of Cambridge
>>
>>Correspondence address:
>>108 Avenue Road Extension, Leicester LE2 3EH
>>Tel: 0116 220 1066
>>Email: karl.maton-AT-dtn.ntl.com
>>
>>I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the hearts affections and
>>the truth of the imagination
>>Keats
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