ABSTRACT

Habitus is a concept that has been widely deployed in recent years, largely through the influence of the sociology of Norbert Elias and Pierre Bourdieu, though it has also played a part in the radical philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. As an idea it goes back at least to Aristotle, but its modern usage has been heavily influenced by the work of the French social anthropologist, Marcel Mauss. For Mauss, habitus referred to the ways in which cultural attributes such as skills, expertise, styles, tastes, values and habits are deeply internalized, rooted in the lives and bodily practices of individuals and groups, and are lived as innate, the only way to be. The concept has been used as an analytical tool to understand a wide range of embedded and embodied social phenomenon, especially class distinctions and educational attainment, but has also proved significant in theorizing gender and sexual beliefs and behaviour.