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Uncovering Hegemony In Higher Education: A Critical Appraisal Of The Use Of “Institutional Habitus” In Empirical Scholarship, Derria Byrd

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

This article critically examines the empirical scholarship that applies institutional habitus, a conceptual extension of Bourdieu’s theory of practice, to investigations of higher education. Given Bourdieu’s extensive scholarly focus on higher education as well as the field’s undertheorization of its own exclusionary history, application of institutional habitus to higher education is particularly apt. This critical appraisal finds that the reviewed scholarship corroborates the concept’s value by drawing attention to the role of institutional habitus in differentially privileging and rewarding students based on their possession of institutionally legitimized knowledge, values, and behaviors. Nevertheless, this review reveals a series of missed opportunities, …