Sociological research emphasises the importance of this 'habitus'. In many cases, it helps people determine whether they want to communicate and work together, and if so, how they will do it - "there is a good chemistry". Pierre Bourdieu attributes this "chemistry" to social structures. A person is not born with all these characteristics, but "the grammar of the social framework" is illustrated in him or her: A person's habitus makes it possible to define his or her social status and rank. At best, it can be communicated without being directly stated: Two anthropologists can recognise each other at a conference by their language, their associations, their choice of food at the buffet or their clothing. Habitus strongly shapes our style of communication. To better understand how a person is seen by others and how our own words are understood by others, a person needs to be aware of his or her own habitus.
Habitus has socio-political relevance. Access and inclusion to social groups or public goods, for instance, depend not only on objective criteria, but very often on these unspoken, often invisible signals and characteristics. In this sense, habitus is an important subject of theoretical and practice-oriented power-critical education.
Reference
Bourdieu, Pierre, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste, trans. Richard Nice, Harvard University Press 1984
Nils-Eyk Zimmermann
Editor of Competendo. He writes and works on the topics: competences, active citizenship, civil society, digital transformation, non-formal and lifelong learning. Coordinator of European projects, in example DIYW-ROAD or DIGIT-AL Digital Transformation in Adult Learning for Active Citizenship, DARE network.
Blogs here: Blog: Civil Resilience.
Email:nz.at.dare-network.eu
