Extensive, economical and elegant : the habitus of gentility in early nineteenth century Sydney

This paper challenges the modern expectation that mahogany furniture and silver cutlery were self-evident indicators of gentry status in colonial Sydney through close analysis of a bundle of middle class household inventories of the 1840s. They are considered as evidence of habitus--the structuring interaction of mentality with the material world--in order to demonstrate the active principle of consumption in the claim or assertion of bourgeois standing, which was particularly lively in the colony. A range of competences can he seen in the practice of gentility, which suggests that the possession of rosewood rather than mahogany, or imitation silver rather than sterling, was a variation shaped not merely by wealth but by cultural capital. This exposes strands of contingency, competition and compromise in middle class expression.

Architects and their clients : relationships analysis using habitus theory

The nature and quality of hte architect relationship is critical fror project success yet its managment remains problematic.  This interdisciplinary study draws theory from sociology to further our understanding of this built environment industry problem.  The concept of habitus, developed by french sociologist Bourdieu, helps to demystify the architect-client relationship and explain the underlaying cause of conflicts between architects and clients.  Habitus theory explains that the nature of architecture as a specialised activity places architects within an architectural habitus, distinguishing architects from clients who are not trained as professional architects.

Habitus shock : a model for architect-client relationships on house projects based on sociological and psychological perspectives

The widening gap between architects and clients and the associated problems in the management of their relationship have long been recognised by practitioners and researchers alike. An emerging trend in recent studies is to develop descriptive models to describe behavioural characteristics of relationships based on observations of ' real world' practice, indicating the significance of understanding the complexities of the social environment in which the architect-client relationship is within. This research built upon the work of past descriptive models by exploring the architect-client relationship on house projects with a focus on the client's voice. It is an interdisciplinary study drawing theory from sociology to further understand this built environment industry problem. Sixty-nine percent of architects in Australia spend some of their work time on house projects and therefore improvements in this area can have significant impact on a considerably large portion of the profession. Habitus theory borrowed from sociology explains that the nature of architecture as a specialised activity places architects within an architectural habitus, distinguishing them from clients who are .not trained in the field. An underlying premise of thi s study is that a mismatch between the architect and client's habituses occurs as they enter into a relationship on the house project. This phenomenon is termed habitus shock, referring to the client 's experience of disorientation as they are confronted with an unfamiliar architectural habitus on the project. Culture shock theory is examined for its contribution to explain the process to which the client adjusts to the unfamiliar environment during habitus shock. The habitus shock model proposed in this paper suggests that the client may achieve learning during habitus shock and it is this client learning that can lead to successful relationships.

Dancing habitus: the formation of a group (dance)

This article discusses how six individual dancers came to belong, stylistically, to a group, in a project that did not aim explicitly to create or bring about that belonging. The studio-based research project tested the creation of a group improvised dance through practising over a significant period of time with ‘scores’ or verbal propositions, usually relating to physical, bodily or movement notions such as tangling and untangling or being subject to gravity. This article looks at one question within the research: namely, whether the dancing individuals came, over time, to belong to a group, and if so, what enabled that belonging and what made the dance a group dance? The project did not centre on an objective to direct the creation of a ‘groupness’ or stylistic consistency but, rather, it supported the investigation of how this ‘groupness’ might come about.

Book review : Disposed to learn: schooling, ethnicity and the scholarly habitus

Book review of: Disposed to learn: schooling, ethnicity and the scholarly habitus, by Megan Watkins and Greg Noble

Adult education and radical habitus in an environmental campaign: learning in the coal seam gas protests in Australia

Summary: This paper examines the adult learning dimensions of protestors as they participate in a campaign to stop coal seam gas exploration in Gippsland in Central Victoria, Australia. On a global level, the imposition of coal seam gas exploration by governments and mining companies has been the trigger for movements of resistance from environmental groups. They are concerned about the impact of mining on their land, food and water supplies. In central Gippsland a group of ‘circumstantial activists’ comprised of farmers, tree changers and other local residents are campaigning against coal seam gas exploration. This unlikely coalition of environmental action groups has made effective use of a variety of community education strategies. This paper commences by outlining some of the key literature on learning and activism drawing on the education tradition of adult learning. We then draw on key concepts from Bourdieu’s writing on ‘habitus’ and ‘field’ to analyse the data from this research. We outline some of the learning practices of activists; through their involvement in this campaign, and the knowledge and skills they gain as they develop a feel for the game of protest. We argue circumstantial activists learn both formally and informally in the social environment of campaigning. Of particular interest is the role of more experienced activists from Friends of the Earth (FOE), a non-government organisation (NGO), as they pass on knowledge, experience, tactics and strategies to the novice and less experienced activists in this community campaign. We explore some of the contradictions of the protestors’ identification as activists using Bourdieu’s concepts of ‘doxa’ and ‘Ilusio’. The paper concludes by arguing learning in activism is a rich tradition of adult education and practice. However, Bourdieu’s writing on field and habitus makes an added contribution to interpreting the learning that occurs in the social space of a campaign or social movement.

Capital, habitus e as redes no ciberespaço

Valendo-me das categorias da Economia das trocas simbólicas, propostas por Bourdieu, pretendo desenvolver neste artigo uma breve análise das trocas simbólicas produzidas em um novo ambiente sócio-técnico (a internet) e como ele tornou possível o surgimento de um espaço virtual de coalizões (redes de interagentes). Nesse sentido, torna-se fundamental pensar a complexa integração entre as trocas simbólicas no mundo "off-line" e "on-line" que disputam o acesso à produção, apropriação e distribuição universal de novos tipos de recursos mais ou menos escassos. Procuro analisar,brevemente, a relação entre a promessa de abundância e certos tipos de escassez encontrados no ciberespaço e a colocação de uma questão que considero fundamental: a arquitetura distribuída da rede eliminaria totalmente a necessidade de representação e delegação ou estabeleceria diferentes filtros e modalidades de organização e seleção de porta-vozes em novos tipos de comunidades?

Atrás das grades: redes sociais, habitus e interação social no sistema carcerário do RN

Esta tesis trata de discutir y entender los diversos tipos de redes sociales y formas de interacción social presentes en el sistema penitenciario de Rio Grande do Norte. Nuestro problema se basa en un incremento significativo en las tasas de encarcelamiento y la prisión en Brasil y el mundo en los últimos diez años. Asimismo, la aparición del crimen organizado ya, en cierta medida, el control de las prisiones brasileñas, como el Comando Vermelho (CV) y el Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), una consecuencia directa de las terribles condiciones de las prisiones de Brasil y aumento de la violencia y el crimen en nuestro país. Para resolver el problema, se optó por utilizar las categorías de análisis de Michel Foucault (prisión y la disciplina), Pierre Bourdieu (habitus y campo), Ervirng Goffman (institución total, de interacción, de fachada y de equipo) y Mark Granovetter, Ricardo Abramovay e João Peixoto, entre otros, la nueva sociología económica (Redes, nodos y lazos) como principal apoyo. También construyó una revisión histórica de la cárcel en Brasil y Rio Grande do Norte hasta llegar al objeto. Esto, en términos de investigación cualitativa, se sumergió en el mundo de las prisiones Dr. Francisco Nogueira Fernandes, conocido como Penitenciario de Alcaçuz, ubicado en el municipio de Nísia Bosque, Rio Grande do Norte. Penitenciaría del Estado de origen, las casas de Alcaçuz seiscientos cuarenta y tres reclusos, divididos en cinco pabellones, un total de ciento cuarenta y siete células. Mediante la observación sistemática y la entrevista cualitativa s semi-estructurada como las principales fuentes de recopilación de datos, hemos tratado de explicar el universo que acabamos de analizar por las Ciencias Sociales. Nos dimos cuenta de que, para cumplir con la escena nacional, regaliz viola de manera flagrante lo que se denomina en la Constitución de 1988 y LEP (Ley de Ejecución Penal), sin tener en cuenta los derechos de los individuos a una porción de una oración con un mínimo de dignidad. Se ha demostrado que las personas que permean el universo proviene de un ambiente de la prisión, la sociabilidad violenta, sedo también tienen un habitus precario. La prisión, espacio disciplinario y un tipo específico de interacción social marcada por el control, contribuye a la profundización de habitus, pero que muestra que no es también como un espacio cerrado en absoluto, sino un lugar donde penetran las redes y dinámicas muy social. Al mismo tiempo, se encontró que más de la presencia de "grupos organizados" es el espacio en las cárceles para la interacción social y las redes sociales que pasan dentro y fuera de su espacio

Habitus e territorialidade na composição da dinâmica imobiliária em Natal/RN

Many have sought to understand the spatial processes, which originate from land development and real estate dynamics, seeking also to build new categories of analysis to put some light on the less evident aspects of this process. The discussion about production of space has been adopted in this study, but has proved insufficient to explain this complex urban reality. Here, it is analysed the ways that, in Natal, the market fosters the material basis for capital accumulation. The research had as methodological basis, the analysis of discourse, having full interviews with institutional agents as background. It aimed at understanding the complex, material configuration in urban space. It thus investigates the theory of practices of existing (private and public) agents towards the real estate market, using several concepts, like production of space (Lefèbvre and Harvey); habitus (Bourdieu); spatial fix (Harvey); and territoriality (Haesbaert). Evidence shows that there has been a process of ‗naturalization of certain practices in the market that has had implications for the production of an urban space that is both segmented and segregated, giving rise also to complex material configurations, including different forms of heterotopies (Foucault). These spaces result from capital s own creative dynamics and of the reach for social realization for different groups of people making a living under different economic conditions of income.

Habitus, representações sociais e construção identitária dos professores de Maracanaú

In the last three decades, the subject of the teacher's social identity has been discussed under various theoretical focuses, not only in Brazil, but also beyond our borders. In this thesis, the theme is approached starting from the theoretical proposal that has been developed by Domingos Sobrinho (1994), which is strongly based in the epistemological approach between Pierre Bourdieu’s praxiology and the Theory of the Social Representations formulated by Serge Moscovici. It presupposes that this would make it easier to apprehend the process of construction of social identity of the investigated social group. The universe of the research is constituted by teachers of the fundamental teaching of the municipal district of Maracanaú, state of Ceará, that were active in class-room work there during at least three years, and were registered or had concluded the Course of Educational Formation promoted by UECE in that municipal district. Taking into account that the teacher's social identity is a process in permanent construction, resulting of their daily experiences and of the interferences originated from of the social context, the investigative tasks were implemented in two different stages, although they complement each other. Initially, with the objective of putting in evidence the genesis of the formation of that group’s habitus, an analysis of the family and school lives of eleven teachers who participated in the course was made, using as main sources of data: thematic memorials, semi-structured interviews and observations - inside and out of the class-room – during four school semesters. In the second stage a test of free association of words was applied to 426 teachers, seeking to apprehend the structure of the social representations of family and school – a methodological strategy considered necessary to enhance and identify certain outlines of the habitus in study, besides being in agreement with the theoretical model followed. It became evident from the results that the identity of Maracanaú’s teachers is molded and transformed into a multifaceted dynamic unit that shows successes and mistakes, certainties and doubts. For instance, besides an innovative speech seeking to reassure that teaching is a profession and not a simple vocation or mission, some discourse and attitudes are identified that point to the opposite direction, extolling the school as extension of the family, defending a parental relationship with the students, and looking at certain aspects of daily school life as “sacramental”. However, in the light of science such ambiguities and incoherences are inherent to common sense discourse, where the influences of the patterns and cultural references are present in the process of identity construction of the group, which was confirmed by the research of their social representations of family and school

Habitus, representações sociais e construção identitária dos profesores de Maracanaú

In the last three decades, the subject of the teacher's social identity has been discussed under various theoretical focuses, not only in Brazil, but also beyond our borders. In this thesis, the theme is approached starting from the theoretical proposal that has been developed by Domingos Sobrinho (1994), which is strongly based in the epistemological approach between Pierre Bourdieu s praxiology and the Theory of the Social Representations formulated by Serge Moscovici. It presupposes that this would make it easier to apprehend the process of construction of social identity of the investigated social group. The universe of the research is constituted by teachers of the fundamental teaching of the municipal district of Maracanaú, state of Ceará, that were active in class-room work there during at least three years, and were registered or had concluded the Course of Educational Formation promoted by UECE in that municipal district. Taking into account that the teacher's social identity is a process in permanent construction, resulting of their daily experiences and of the interferences originated from of the social context, the investigative tasks were implemented in two different stages, although they complement each other. Initially, with the objective of putting in evidence the genesis of the formation of that group s habitus, an analysis of the family and school lives of eleven teachers who participated in the course was made, using as main sources of data: thematic memorials, semi-structured interviews and observations - inside and out of the class-room during four school semesters. In the second stage a test of free association of words was applied to 426 teachers, seeking to apprehend the structure of the social representations of family and school a methodological strategy considered necessary to enhance and identify certain outlines of the habitus in study, besides being in agreement with the theoretical model followed. It became evident from the results that the identity of Maracanaú s teachers is molded and transformed into a multifaceted dynamic unit that shows successes and mistakes, certainties and doubts. For instance, besides an innovative speech seeking to reassure that teaching is a profession and not a simple vocation or mission, some discourse and attitudes are identified that point to the opposite direction, extolling the school as extension of the family, defending a parental relationship with the students, and looking at certain aspects of daily school life as sacramental . However, in the light of science such ambiguities and incoherences are inherent to common sense discourse, where the influences of the patterns and cultural references are present in the process of identity construction of the group, which was confirmed by the research of their social representations of family and school