I find that we must question if we choose our lifestyles or if we are socialized into them. Bourdieu helps us understand the way in which we create the habitus that defines who we are in our social environments and the fields that we form a part of. The habitus is a complicated concept and so it can be broken down into five parts; the first is that it is long lasting, it carries over and that it can lead us to have preferences towards something rather than other things. Secondly, it is organized and is part of something outside of ourselves because it carries over it can be collectively shared. Thirdly, it tends to reproduce the conditions that it creates, it is cyclical by structuring your outside (social) environment the way it structures your environment. The fourth part of the habitus is where we may have the most agency because we can choose whether to practice a certain thing although practices are structured in a way that we are not blindly following rules in one direction but our actions are oriented in a certain direction by our place in the social world, or field. Lastly, the habitus allows us to adapt. Lifestyles are defined by both a person’s taste and habitus
Fields are structured spaces of positions and resources; you can move around in this space. Fields are related to the distribution of power in relations it is also the distribution of capital. Capital is accumulated labor in its material form or embodied form. Capital has three forms. The first is economic capital which is the conversion of money to property rights. Secondly, cultural capital which is the accumulation of knowledge through institutions like education it has to be embodied as a long lasting disposition and it is considered a cultural good, objectified. The last form of capital is social capital which is comprised of actual and potential social networks and social interactions. Economic capital is considered the root of all capital.
Music in many ways can be appreciated, but it takes a certain taste or socialization to appreciate certain genres of music. If we take for example three artists like Sublime, Lana Del Rey and the Wu Tang Clan you can notice how tastes are very important in the contrast of music genres. Each of these artist/groups are placed into their own genre after looking at them I realized that there are so many genres. Sublime is considered a Ska punk band Lana Del Rey is considered an indie pop artist and the Wu Tang Clan is a hip hop group.
Some lyrics that are distinct for each of these artists are like Sublime’s Badfish:
“Two pints of booze
Tell me are you a badfish too? Are you a badfish too?
Ain't got no money to spend
I know the night will never end
Lord knows I'm weak
Won't somebody get me off of this reef”
In Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die, these lyrics appear:
Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough
I don’t know why
Keep making me laugh
Let's go get high
The road is long, we carry on
Try to have fun in the meantime
In the Wu Tang Clan’s song C.R.E.A.M
But it was just a dream for the teen, who was a fiend
Started smokin woolies at sixteen
And running up in gates, and doing hits for high stakes
Making my way on fire escapes
No question I would speed, for cracks and weed
If we really pay attention to the lyrics in each of these songs there is one theme that each of them talks about and each has its way of mentioning. The habitus of each of these artists although very different each has a connection unfortunately it is a negative connection and a lifestyle for many people who chose to smoke weed. We can notice how fields are distinct Sublime uses the word reef to describe weed and it is common for people who associate with this genre of music which usually have a lower and more anti-political audience. The hip hop scene is usually the same rhythms the same words but the Wu Tang Clan uses “woolies” to describe weed in his lyrics this is significant in the way that their lyrics depict the sales and consumption of weed from a very young age. Lana Del Rey uses it as an action and says to get “high.” It is interesting how such a controversial thing is allowed to be used in song lyrics but it could always be that the theories of social or cultural capital make way for ideas to be publicly permissible in the media as long as the content of the music is profitable.
Fields are structured spaces of positions and resources; you can move around in this space. Fields are related to the distribution of power in relations it is also the distribution of capital. Capital is accumulated labor in its material form or embodied form. Capital has three forms. The first is economic capital which is the conversion of money to property rights. Secondly, cultural capital which is the accumulation of knowledge through institutions like education it has to be embodied as a long lasting disposition and it is considered a cultural good, objectified. The last form of capital is social capital which is comprised of actual and potential social networks and social interactions. Economic capital is considered the root of all capital.
Music in many ways can be appreciated, but it takes a certain taste or socialization to appreciate certain genres of music. If we take for example three artists like Sublime, Lana Del Rey and the Wu Tang Clan you can notice how tastes are very important in the contrast of music genres. Each of these artist/groups are placed into their own genre after looking at them I realized that there are so many genres. Sublime is considered a Ska punk band Lana Del Rey is considered an indie pop artist and the Wu Tang Clan is a hip hop group.
Some lyrics that are distinct for each of these artists are like Sublime’s Badfish:
“Two pints of booze
Tell me are you a badfish too? Are you a badfish too?
Ain't got no money to spend
I know the night will never end
Lord knows I'm weak
Won't somebody get me off of this reef”
In Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die, these lyrics appear:
Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough
I don’t know why
Keep making me laugh
Let's go get high
The road is long, we carry on
Try to have fun in the meantime
In the Wu Tang Clan’s song C.R.E.A.M
But it was just a dream for the teen, who was a fiend
Started smokin woolies at sixteen
And running up in gates, and doing hits for high stakes
Making my way on fire escapes
No question I would speed, for cracks and weed
If we really pay attention to the lyrics in each of these songs there is one theme that each of them talks about and each has its way of mentioning. The habitus of each of these artists although very different each has a connection unfortunately it is a negative connection and a lifestyle for many people who chose to smoke weed. We can notice how fields are distinct Sublime uses the word reef to describe weed and it is common for people who associate with this genre of music which usually have a lower and more anti-political audience. The hip hop scene is usually the same rhythms the same words but the Wu Tang Clan uses “woolies” to describe weed in his lyrics this is significant in the way that their lyrics depict the sales and consumption of weed from a very young age. Lana Del Rey uses it as an action and says to get “high.” It is interesting how such a controversial thing is allowed to be used in song lyrics but it could always be that the theories of social or cultural capital make way for ideas to be publicly permissible in the media as long as the content of the music is profitable.