Bourdieu states that power is culturally and symbolically created inside society. Power is created by something he calls habitus. Habitus can be thought of as socialized norms or guidelines for behavior. They are learned over a person’s life without the person even knowing. People that the person associates his or her self with directly influence their habitus. This can be from views on religion to clothing choices. People that influence a person the most are ones that interact with a person on a daily basis. This typically tends to be a person’s family or family figures. How people view the world is learned from how their family views the world. After they begin to have friends, and enter school, more so than their family, friends influence their habitus as well. They change and mold into a new person after being influenced by different social circles. The same goes when meeting acquaintances, co-workers, and other people.
From when a person is born they start learning from those around them. They pick up on Mannerisms and ideals that shape them into who they are. It is a slow and gradual process that one cannot see happen overnight. Along with being influenced, one can influence others around them. This makes for an almost never-ending circle of a moldable society.
Bourdieu also says you can acquire more power, or capital, with the more interactions you have. This is known as interacting in the social field. People can interact in an economic field, where money is power, and many other fields like those. This goes against the thought of Marxism, where there are set social classes. With Bourdieu’s thought a person can have high power or capital in one field, such as the social field, but be lacking in power in the economic field. Thus have lots of friends, but not much money. You cannot base people upon one item, as people are multi-dimensional. People can move up and down between the fields.
For example, Jimmy is born into a lower class family. He only knows everything poor until he grows up a little and goes to kindergarten. The way everyone talks, walks, and acts is totally different than anything he ever knows. He is baffled. One day, his family calls him out on acting funny. He answers that he didn’t mean to be funny; it’s just what kids at school did. After that, his family noticed Jimmy acting more and more distant as he went up in grades. Coming from a small town, there was a limited amount of social mobility, and by the time college came around, Jimmy wanted to go on to bigger things. He wanted to experience something bigger and better, so he chose to go into the city, to UIC. He meets new people and broadens his views on life immensely. He now knows of ways of living that he had never fathomed before. The way he interacts with people changed with the people he hangs out with now compared to high school. Even the way he handles his money is different.
He has now expanded his social field and acquired very much social capital. If only he could say that for his monetary gains. He joins clubs and soon heads them, changing other’s lives like his in their collegiate career. After college, Jimmy starts looking for a job. He finds one with help from one of his professors, whom he had become friends with. It is a high paying job, in which he climbs the job ladder very fast with. Over the course of his life, he went from poor to rich, non-educated to educated, insignificant to important. He changed the fields in which he was living, such as his social and economic fields for the better. All of this was possible because of the people around him. They were able to mold his habitus into what he has become.
From when a person is born they start learning from those around them. They pick up on Mannerisms and ideals that shape them into who they are. It is a slow and gradual process that one cannot see happen overnight. Along with being influenced, one can influence others around them. This makes for an almost never-ending circle of a moldable society.
Bourdieu also says you can acquire more power, or capital, with the more interactions you have. This is known as interacting in the social field. People can interact in an economic field, where money is power, and many other fields like those. This goes against the thought of Marxism, where there are set social classes. With Bourdieu’s thought a person can have high power or capital in one field, such as the social field, but be lacking in power in the economic field. Thus have lots of friends, but not much money. You cannot base people upon one item, as people are multi-dimensional. People can move up and down between the fields.
For example, Jimmy is born into a lower class family. He only knows everything poor until he grows up a little and goes to kindergarten. The way everyone talks, walks, and acts is totally different than anything he ever knows. He is baffled. One day, his family calls him out on acting funny. He answers that he didn’t mean to be funny; it’s just what kids at school did. After that, his family noticed Jimmy acting more and more distant as he went up in grades. Coming from a small town, there was a limited amount of social mobility, and by the time college came around, Jimmy wanted to go on to bigger things. He wanted to experience something bigger and better, so he chose to go into the city, to UIC. He meets new people and broadens his views on life immensely. He now knows of ways of living that he had never fathomed before. The way he interacts with people changed with the people he hangs out with now compared to high school. Even the way he handles his money is different.
He has now expanded his social field and acquired very much social capital. If only he could say that for his monetary gains. He joins clubs and soon heads them, changing other’s lives like his in their collegiate career. After college, Jimmy starts looking for a job. He finds one with help from one of his professors, whom he had become friends with. It is a high paying job, in which he climbs the job ladder very fast with. Over the course of his life, he went from poor to rich, non-educated to educated, insignificant to important. He changed the fields in which he was living, such as his social and economic fields for the better. All of this was possible because of the people around him. They were able to mold his habitus into what he has become.