Contemporary Sociological Theory Flashcards
(39 cards)
Who was considered the most influential theorist
Pierre bourdieu
What was Pierre ontological assumptions
A theory that structure, culture, and individual agency interact to reproduce social institutions that foster systematic social inequality
What classical thinkers work influenced Bourdieu’s work
Marx and Durkheim
What was Bourdieu’s basic concept that reproduces systems of inequality
Habitus, capital and field all lead to social reproduction
What was capital and where did Bourdieu come up with it from
Capital was a word Bourdieu got from Marx work
It was what the owning class invested into production to increase and control the production
What is habitus?
A social actors way of being in the world, an individuals way of being and existence in this world
What is field as explained by Bourdieu
The analysis of social reality with a kind of framework, but under such frame works there are different ways that cuktural narratives are expressed.
The context in which a cultural narrative is expressed differs
Arena of a social activity
Presentation and subject experience are concepts related to what
Habitus
How does presentation and subjective experience explain an individuals being in the world
For presentation, the way a persons comports their body, their physical appearance, their style of speaking and type of vocabulary they use affects who they are and their sense of being
For subjective experience, the judgements made spontaneously, their tase in music, literature, food, their way of assessing what is important over other things and their evaluation of a situation to make a decision all illustrates an individuals way of being
All of these are responsible for the reproduction of social institutions and inequality
How does habitus relate to Winthrop Kellogg’s study of chimps socialization with his son
The habitus of acting and behaving like a human is not based on an inherent ability but by the experience of implicit socialization. Winthrop’s son began to emulate the habitus of a chimp because of the implicit socialization, as he learnt and copied the mannerism of his sister chimp
The Habitus is not develop through our own personal views and choices we make, for example our music taste and mannerism are not from us but based on our experiences of reality
So habitus is learnt implicitly through socialization
What’s the relationship between habitus and class
How does the habitus expressed by the working class and the professional class differ form Marx illustaration of class differnce
According the Marx class differnce is solely seen through the existence of capital, the class that owns the means of production and the class that doesn’t
But for Bourdieu understanding class goes beyond what capital is and dives into very way an individuals habitus might differentiate him others
The habitus of the professional class is dignified, reserved and controlled, there outward appearance is so controlled that you can hardly tell what’s goin on inside
While the habitus of the working class is outwardly, fun, straightforward and open, what they portray is how they feel, don’t feel the need to control or act in a certain way
How is habitus learnt?
By implicit socialization in early childhood
Habitus begins in the very early childhood, humans ability to soak in behavior experienced and seen, implicit initializing the body compartment, style of speech, of their parents and the people surrounding them which are all in the same class background as a child leads to the development of habitus
Who studied class and parenting style differnce
Annette Lareau
How does working class parenting differ from the middle class parenting
In a working class parenting with NATURAL GROWTH, the children are usually free to make their own decisions on how they explore learning and play games.The only time a parent gets involved are in situation of bath time, feeding time, time for bed, do homework, that involves giving orders but other times, children are left to chooses and do what ever they want to do
While in CONCERTED CULTIVATION there is a systematic organization of the child time and activity, there is a lot of opportunity to practice leaning through instruction, that means from very young ages, that are already acting and behaving in based in instruction explicitly given to them, for example piano lessons, instruction on playing
Also they are given the chance to participate in family decision making not just to listen to what ever authority was given
Natural growth and concerted cultivation is a parting style common on which of the classes
Natural growth- working class
‘Middle class parenting- concerted cultivation
What was Bourdieus take on the importance of parenting style and class, did it differ from Annette’s view
According to Boudreau, the parenting style doesn’t matter, its the effect that has on the child add they mature and grow old and the way society understands or cultural narrative understands it as
For example a child whose parents gave them the chance to make decisions about what is to be had for dinner, that may manifest later in life as someone freely able to talk during presentations and board meetings. The implicit learning instilled by their parents earlier in life leads to a behavior that is evident in adulthood. So a form of social reproduction of class and habitus learnt as a child
But the way the society reads and understands that habitus also matters, to others in the office they might regard him as a extroverted, authoritative, wont listen to no one, has strong opinions and not afraid to share them kind of person, but to that person that was just a natural or almost second nature behavior they exhibit because that is what they have been exposed to
The arena of social activity is considered
The field
What are the 3 fields discussed by Bourdieu
Economy
Field of cultural production
The education system
When Bourdiue says every field has its own unspoken logic of what is acceptable or not
“The rules of the game“
What does that mean?
Schools are regarded as an equal ground, for example pubic education offers equal footing to everyone regardless of their economic background or class
But Bourdieu claims that the habitus of a child depending on the class they were raised determines the way they able seen and act in the field
Who determines a fields logic
Determined by people who are powerful in that govern fields
In a field of hospitl, education system and in a daycare who determines the field logic
Doctors and nurses over patients
Teachers and lecturers over students
Child care givers over children
What is the relationship between, the education system, class and the habitus of a child in school
For exmaple, when a child from a middle class parenting household gets to class and the teacher, most powerful within that field tells everyone to keep quiet, they can easily do that, why?
Because they are just practicing what they have already learnt implicitly by following and listening to instructions given to them by a higher authority in the field. Just like taking violin lessons and listening to instructions. While a kid from a working class would. Find it harder to do so because they are more accustomed to doing things their own way and only on particular occasion are their parents assertive enough to control them, it’ll be harder to reproduce for them
The problem is that now the cultural narrative is distorted in that the teacher now considers the student as smarter because of their ability to follow instructions. the school system glorifies the ability to follow instructions, which is not true because the middle class children have had more times to practice this and are just displaying what they are used to sine it had already been included into them through their parents while the working class child finds it harder to do since the are not used to it
When Bourdieu refers to the field as having its own unspoken logic, what does that mean?
A specific implicit way of navigating through a situation that is not visually apparent to anyone but can only be learnt by experiencing the actual nuance, subtle situation itself
How does Marx define capital and how does that contrast from Bourdieu’s
Marx defines capital as what that capitalist aims to gain and invest to acquires more means of production
But Bourdieu defines capital as although economical like Marx mentioned but also has a different form cultural capital
