What is habitus? According to Bourdieu, habitus is state or a form of lifestyle; it is something that sticks around for a long period of time and eventually become part of who we are and/or part of society itself. Bourdieu defined habitus using five characteristics. Habitus is durable and transportable disposition, it is a structured structure, structuring structure, generates practices in a non-reflexive way, and has the capacity for change. Habitus basically has to do with society normalizing or socializes a certain behavior or state of mind that through time becomes structured into our lives and becomes part of who we are and our perspective on that certain behavior or idea. Habitus has to do with schematics; a structure of knowledge that an individual has on a specific topic and we function based in that structure (Hyde. 2007). Bourdieu also argued that habitus has to do with taste, which are pretty much our preferences towards a set of worldwide ideas, per se; clothing, behavior, food, sports, etc. there has been many ideas that have been structured by habitus. We develop habitus by society and the great influence it has on us.
Let us take the gender differences of emotion. Society has normalized emotion by reinforcing the way men and women express it differently making men the dominant gender and the women the subordinate gender. Society pretty much puts pressure on emotion and how we are supposed to express it, and if we violate those regulations then either our behavior is not accepted or it is simply ignored. For example, men are seen by society as the ones that are likely and should only be the gender that expresses anger, whereas women are seen as the gender that express sadness, guilty, etc. The way we develop our emotions depend on the influences we have while growing up and those influences follow us through adulthood, hence becoming a part of who we are and how we perceive certain situations. For example, my brother –in-laws’ state of mind has been normalized by society that men do not cry and that is wrong if they do, therefore he reinforces it when it comes to my nephew by lecturing him and telling him that men should not cry and that girls are the only ones who express the emotion of crying (practices). He basically does not accept his son showing the type of emotion that society puts on women therefore feels the need to teach him. The lifestyle and ideas that he lived with during his childhood carried on to his adulthood and is part of how he perceives the world. The media also plays a role on the socialization of gender differences of emotion by the way they portray women as the less dominant and men as the superior ones that show strength, anger, and . In movies men are usually the super heroes or the ones that save the hopeless women. Our state of mind which is structured by society, make us accept these gendered differences of emotion. It can be something that becomes part of our unconscious behavior because we operate and make it our lifestyle. But like habitus suggest, there is the capacity for these behaviors of emotion to change because some people are now becoming more accepting and encouraging to men showing more emotions, such as sensitivity.
Let us take the gender differences of emotion. Society has normalized emotion by reinforcing the way men and women express it differently making men the dominant gender and the women the subordinate gender. Society pretty much puts pressure on emotion and how we are supposed to express it, and if we violate those regulations then either our behavior is not accepted or it is simply ignored. For example, men are seen by society as the ones that are likely and should only be the gender that expresses anger, whereas women are seen as the gender that express sadness, guilty, etc. The way we develop our emotions depend on the influences we have while growing up and those influences follow us through adulthood, hence becoming a part of who we are and how we perceive certain situations. For example, my brother –in-laws’ state of mind has been normalized by society that men do not cry and that is wrong if they do, therefore he reinforces it when it comes to my nephew by lecturing him and telling him that men should not cry and that girls are the only ones who express the emotion of crying (practices). He basically does not accept his son showing the type of emotion that society puts on women therefore feels the need to teach him. The lifestyle and ideas that he lived with during his childhood carried on to his adulthood and is part of how he perceives the world. The media also plays a role on the socialization of gender differences of emotion by the way they portray women as the less dominant and men as the superior ones that show strength, anger, and . In movies men are usually the super heroes or the ones that save the hopeless women. Our state of mind which is structured by society, make us accept these gendered differences of emotion. It can be something that becomes part of our unconscious behavior because we operate and make it our lifestyle. But like habitus suggest, there is the capacity for these behaviors of emotion to change because some people are now becoming more accepting and encouraging to men showing more emotions, such as sensitivity.