Bourdieu’s theory presented the ideas of habitus and practices. According to 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. Habitus has five basic principles; the first being that it is a system of durable and transposable disposition also know as a shared form of thinking. The second principle is that it is a structured structure, which means that it is something exerted upon an individual from an outside force. Also, a habitus is a structuring structure that can be seen as an individual’s structured experiences and a generated set of practices that are reproduced. The fourth principle is that a habitus creates non-reflective practices; basically an individual does not really thinking about the way they act because their actions are a part of who they are naturally. Finally, a habitus has the capacity to change. It is self-reproducing which means that it possesses the ability to become different overtime. Bourdieu also presented the idea of practices. Practices are defined as the ability to organize ideas, actions, and perceptions through generative principles. They are sets of principles that are used to make decisions and are defined by preferences.
Habitus and practices allow us to explain inequalities because the meanings attached to differences are hard to change. Gender stereotypes strongly displays Bourdieu’s theory of habitus and practices and can be used to explain gender inequalities. An individual’s gender is something that they have no control over. The individual does not get a say as to what gender they want to be when they are born. Regardless of what gender an individual may be, there is still a present reoccurring issue of gender stereotypes and inequality. Parents are responsible for teaching their children the ways of acting, thinking, and behaving when they are first born. The things that parents teach their children have a lasting effect on what kind of person that child is going to become. Some of the things that parents teach their children are gender role stereotypes. These stereotypes are things like, boys don't cry, only girls play with dolls, and boys are suppose to be strong, etc. Not only do parents and older adults reinforce these ideas on children but also media and society have a big influence on enforcing these stereotypes. When children grow older and become teenagers, they tend to reinforce and pass along these ideas to fellow peers. The reinforcement of these gender stereotypes is the cause for bigger problems like gender inequalities. For example, if there was a teenage boy that was publicly expressing his sadness by cry, people around him would consider him to be less masculine because he was crying and people are told that boys are not suppose to cry. These gender inequalities can also be seen in girls. One example is the idea that girls are not suppose to be strong, so when a girl is good at something that is mainly male dominated, they are seen as tomboys and less feminine.
The habitus and practices are the gender stereotypes because they are structures that are exerted upon us and we reinforce and reproduce these ideas. A habitus helps us explain inequalities because, as we can see from the example of gender stereotypes, the meanings and the effects attached to these stereotypes are hard to change. Habitus have the capacity to change but when we are talking about things such as gender inequalities, changes can be difficult to accomplish. Our ways of thinking are structured by society and our peers, which makes it easier to accept these gender stereotypes and not change them to bring about gender equality. Although it is hard to create change, it is not impossible. As time goes by, gender stereotypes are slowing being broken apart.
Habitus and practices allow us to explain inequalities because the meanings attached to differences are hard to change. Gender stereotypes strongly displays Bourdieu’s theory of habitus and practices and can be used to explain gender inequalities. An individual’s gender is something that they have no control over. The individual does not get a say as to what gender they want to be when they are born. Regardless of what gender an individual may be, there is still a present reoccurring issue of gender stereotypes and inequality. Parents are responsible for teaching their children the ways of acting, thinking, and behaving when they are first born. The things that parents teach their children have a lasting effect on what kind of person that child is going to become. Some of the things that parents teach their children are gender role stereotypes. These stereotypes are things like, boys don't cry, only girls play with dolls, and boys are suppose to be strong, etc. Not only do parents and older adults reinforce these ideas on children but also media and society have a big influence on enforcing these stereotypes. When children grow older and become teenagers, they tend to reinforce and pass along these ideas to fellow peers. The reinforcement of these gender stereotypes is the cause for bigger problems like gender inequalities. For example, if there was a teenage boy that was publicly expressing his sadness by cry, people around him would consider him to be less masculine because he was crying and people are told that boys are not suppose to cry. These gender inequalities can also be seen in girls. One example is the idea that girls are not suppose to be strong, so when a girl is good at something that is mainly male dominated, they are seen as tomboys and less feminine.
The habitus and practices are the gender stereotypes because they are structures that are exerted upon us and we reinforce and reproduce these ideas. A habitus helps us explain inequalities because, as we can see from the example of gender stereotypes, the meanings and the effects attached to these stereotypes are hard to change. Habitus have the capacity to change but when we are talking about things such as gender inequalities, changes can be difficult to accomplish. Our ways of thinking are structured by society and our peers, which makes it easier to accept these gender stereotypes and not change them to bring about gender equality. Although it is hard to create change, it is not impossible. As time goes by, gender stereotypes are slowing being broken apart.