Pierre Bourdieu in his book, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, describes in detail how people’s attributes, behaviors, and tastes correlate to their place in social space. However, while his ideas clarify how people make distinction of class, it does not fully capture class in the contemporary United States. This is not just in the choice of artistic works and food choices, but rather a crucial missing element that pervades our modern lives, the Internet. If one was to conduct this analysis today, it would likely include data on people’s online experiences and interaction. Including this new dimension on top of Bourdieu’s work would provide new insight on: how people inhabit their habitus (both online and offline)
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Bourdieu’s primary analysis deals with social space, or “all the indicators of economic, cultural and social wealth and its evolution” within a certain area (Bourdieu 127). Bourdieu argues that one’s social space shapes their habitus. Habitus, as Bourdieu states it, is “ the capacity to produce classifiable practices and works, and the capacity to differentiate and appreciate these practices and products (taste)” (170). What this means is that people embody certain attributes and tastes, and use that to distinguish between their group and other groups. Displayed on pages 128 and 129 of Distinction, Bourdieu illustrates how certain social spaces embody a specific habitus. On the y-axis, he models people’s overall capital. On the x-axis, he models the dichotomy of two main types of capital: cultural (towards the left side of the chart) and economic (towards the right side of the chart). The main takeaway from this chart is how certain attributes correlate with certain amount of and type of …show more content…
For some of us the Internet is an escape from our current social space into a new one. Anonymity is one of the main cornerstones of the Internet and this provides a way for people to temporarily move between social space. This means that people can experiment with certain behaviors without some of the repercussions of real-life. It also allows people to more easily show their true habitus, since they are not too worried about social expectations. On the opposite side, there is modern social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), where people are allowed to publicize themselves. The public view of one’s profile can lead to constructing an idealized online persona. While not everyone does this explicitly, people do filter what aspects of their lives the public is allowed to see. This represents an aspirational tendency mirrored by those of Bourdieu’s middle class, where people aspire to be like the elites of the society. What this could allow us to do is compare how people’s online habitus reinforces or contradicts people’s real-life
Bourdieu’s primary analysis deals with social space, or “all the indicators of economic, cultural and social wealth and its evolution” within a certain area (Bourdieu 127). Bourdieu argues that one’s social space shapes their habitus. Habitus, as Bourdieu states it, is “ the capacity to produce classifiable practices and works, and the capacity to differentiate and appreciate these practices and products (taste)” (170). What this means is that people embody certain attributes and tastes, and use that to distinguish between their group and other groups. Displayed on pages 128 and 129 of Distinction, Bourdieu illustrates how certain social spaces embody a specific habitus. On the y-axis, he models people’s overall capital. On the x-axis, he models the dichotomy of two main types of capital: cultural (towards the left side of the chart) and economic (towards the right side of the chart). The main takeaway from this chart is how certain attributes correlate with certain amount of and type of …show more content…
For some of us the Internet is an escape from our current social space into a new one. Anonymity is one of the main cornerstones of the Internet and this provides a way for people to temporarily move between social space. This means that people can experiment with certain behaviors without some of the repercussions of real-life. It also allows people to more easily show their true habitus, since they are not too worried about social expectations. On the opposite side, there is modern social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), where people are allowed to publicize themselves. The public view of one’s profile can lead to constructing an idealized online persona. While not everyone does this explicitly, people do filter what aspects of their lives the public is allowed to see. This represents an aspirational tendency mirrored by those of Bourdieu’s middle class, where people aspire to be like the elites of the society. What this could allow us to do is compare how people’s online habitus reinforces or contradicts people’s real-life