Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Theorising Political Legitimisation: From Stasis To Processes, Paddy Dolan, Stephen Vertigans, John Connolly

Articles

Legitimacy remains a key concept in political sociology, and perhaps even more so in lay understandings of political processes and structures, as evidenced by conflict over territories and regimes around the world. However, the concept suffers from a rather static representation, and even when addressed in processual form, in terms of specific moments in the process, such as conditions favouring legitimacy or its effects. Building from an Eliasian perspective, we argue for a more processual concept of legitimisation to encompass the dynamic social networks (figurations) that constitute the more unintentional context for deliberate legitimation claims. As networks expand and intensify, …

Dancing Mi Cultura: The Production Of Ethnic And National Identity In Midwestern Mexican-Americans Through The Performance Of Ballet Méxicano Folklórico, Katrina J. Frank

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies how Mexican Americans living in the northwest suburbs of Chicago produce connections to their Mexican heritage and culture through the performance of ballet Mexicano folklórico. Through ethnographic interviews of current and former folklórico dancers, as well as participant observation of adult folklórico dance practices, I contextualize the experiences of the interviewees using the anthropological theories of habitus, continuous and discontinuous selves, double-consciousness, liminality, and collective effervescence, as well as the works of Simone de Beauvoir, Michel Foucault, and Frantz Fanon, with the discussion of folklórico as an art, and the concept of institutional use of dance as …

“Racial Heterosexual Habitus” And Management Of Racial Education Discussions Within Black Female/White Male Romantic Relationships, Marya T. Mtshali

Faculty Journal Articles

Scholars (Steinbugler 2012; Twine 2010) have examined the role that the white racial lens can play in limiting the development of racial literacy for white partners in black/white relationships, while the role of gender ideologies has gone largely unexamined. Through analyzing “racially educational” conversations between 36 members of black female/white male heterosexual couples, I introduce the concept of “racial heterosexual habitus” and its influence in managing these discussions on race. I argue that it generates limits—as well as unique opportunities—for couples during these conversations about race. My findings reveal how black female heterosexual habitus orients black women to navigate these …

Who Farms The Future? Producing The Next Generation Of Agriculturalists, Jordyn L. Mcmaster Neely

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The proportion of young farmers and ranchers (ages 18-35 years old) within the agricultural workforce has been declining, raising concerns about the sustainability of the food supply. To gather more tools for solving this problem, this thesis research seeks to understand why young people want to work in agriculture by studying how they develop aspirations for an agricultural career. This thesis employed both survey and interview processes to gather data on how participants think about the field of agriculture in the context of both the challenges and opportunities for entry. Participants were asked how wide range of factors contributed to …

Middle-Class “Chavs” From Working-Class Areas? Habitus, The Attainment Gap, And The Commodification Of Higher Education Among Communication Students In England, Martina Topić, Audra Diers-Lawson, Christian Goodman

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

The purpose of the article is to compare and contrast higher education and research among public relations and journalism students of middle-class and working-class origin. The paper applied Bourdieu’s theory of habitus to analyze prejudices against the working class, explores whether working-class students express an anti-education view, and whether the appreciation of education (and research in particular) is a predominantly middle-class attitude. Focus groups and an online questionnaire were used to obtain views of students at a university in Northern England. Triple coding (open, axial, selective) was used and the data was then analyzed and presented using thematic analysis. Findings …

"Arena" Di Dalam Perilaku Pencarian Informasi Untuk Mendapatkan Lagu: Pendekatan Grounded Theory, Riyan Adi Putra, Laksmi Laksmi, Luki Wijayanti

Jurnal Ilmu Informasi, Perpustakaan dan Kearsipan

Songs are the simplest things for each individual to like. With the development of information technology, songs have also changed from analog to digital. This causes a song that is a copyrighted work to be easily obtained. Therefore, in this study, we want to discuss the information-seeking behavior of the society to get the song. In this research, the theory of information-seeking behavior will be placed with the theory of actions or habits put forward by Bourdieu, namely capital, habitus, and "arena". This research aims to understand the action in obtaining the song from the perspective of information-seeking behavior theory …

Embracing Conflict And Contradiction As A Path To Awareness, Joann Rintel Abreu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The focus of this autoethnographic dissertation is the exploration of habitus and how it consciously and unconsciously influences our perceptions, emotions, values, and actions. I describe this dissertation as an autoethnography to highlight my subjective approach to research and to dispel any claims of objectivity. Through my experiences as a daughter, mother, administrator, and teacher-educator, I explore three internal conflicts, highlighted by intense emotional reactions, and deconstruct how my past and present contexts inform my values, beliefs, and actions. In each chapter, I describe several events that led to a greater understanding of my emotional responses and how I adapted …

Other People’S Families: How Social Ties Shape Entrance Into The Medical Profession, Lillian Sims

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Not enough members of low-income, rural, and minoritized populations are successfully prepared for and recruited into medical school, exacerbating issues of unequal access to healthcare and limiting access to the profession. While a multitude of factors contribute to this problem, early social exposure to others in a field can act as a key contributor to career interest and a key advantage for entering the profession. Meanwhile, students without early social exposure to healthcare may take unconventional paths to medical school or may struggle to fit into the unique culture of medicine when they do enter training, especially if they belong …

The Appalachian Medical Student Experience: A Case Study, Jason Scott Hedrick

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The Appalachian region is a rural swath of mountainous terrain home to a historically distinct culture. The region’s population suffers from a multitude of health issues and disparities. Notably, the region also experiences a major healthcare provider shortage despite the fact that states, like West Virginia, produce per capita, a high volume of physicians. Appalachia, and particularly West Virginia, also suffers from a number of educational disparities, which culminates into low numbers of college graduates within the population. There is a plethora of research that has explored the first-generation college student, students from rural and Appalachian backgrounds, first-generation and rural …

Exposed Intimacies: Clinicians On The Frontlines Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Ellen Block

Sociology Faculty Publications

COVID-19 has overwhelmed health-care providers. The virus is novel in its prevalence, severity and the risk of asymptomatic infection. In order to reduce the risk of infection and stop the spread of COVID-19, clinicians in hospitals across the United States are taking measures to limit exposure to infected patients by reducing the frequency of visits to patients’ rooms, touching patients less, and adopting new protocols around the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). While these newly adopted practices are helping to reduce transmission risk of COVID-19, they are producing a habitus of infection; an acute shift among clinicians that is …

The Embodiment Of Culture: How Anthropology Informs The Practice Of Dance/Movement Therapy, Carlie Silva

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The field of anthropology – the study of human culture – has much to contribute to understanding the practice of dance/movement therapy (DMT) from a culturally-informed vantage point. We exist in an epoch of expressive arts therapy where multicultural competency is becoming increasingly emphasized. Yet, culture’s grasp goes beyond its influence on the way people understand their world – it also shapes how people come to understand and make meaning with their bodies. This thesis reviews five categories of literature: 1) the influence of culture on the construction of the embodied “self”; 2) the influence of culture on movement tendencies …

Video Killed The Drag Star: Identity Presentation, Language, And Queer Habitus, Hayley Neiling

Graduate Theses

Pierre Bourdieu defines habitus as “the ability to produce classifiable practices and works, and the capacity to differentiate and appreciate these practices and products (taste), that the represented social world, i.e., the space of life-styles, is constituted” (170). In other words, habitus is the combination of our habits, perceptions, and presentations that are formed from the ingrained ideas of our society. Our habitus is both performed and perceived, and in this way, we gain cultural capital, which is the curating of knowledge, skills, and behaviors which demonstrate our value. Habitus is deeply affected by our position in society, particularly class. …

Cultural Capital, Habitus And Academic Achievement, Tevin Vaughan

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Education in the United States is directly tied to social mobility for students with low socioeconomic status. The fact that these same students are less likely to succeed academically and that the interaction between cultural capital (knowledge, skills, mannerisms, etc.) and habitus (dispositions and attitudes) are understudied has led to the formulation of this study. This study looks to identify a mechanism that can be leveraged by low SES students for educational attainment. This research will follow an exploratory, cross-sectional design, that will use quantitative methods to examine the influence that cultural capital and habitus on low income student academic …

Cultural Capital, Habitus, College Persistence And Graduation Among Black Immigrant-Origin Undergraduates: A Basic Interpretive Qualitative Study, Erica M. Richards Chew

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Black immigrant-origin students are a significant sub-population of the total Black college student population, and they are persisting and graduating more frequently than Black U.S.-origin students. This study explored cultural capital and habitus and how they shaped the college persistence and graduation of Black immigrant-origin undergraduates and alumni from four-year postsecondary institutions. A basic interpretive qualitative design, guided by cultural capital theory, was used to explore thirteen Black-immigrant-origin students’ and graduates’ perspectives in-depth; and to describe their subjective meanings, actions, and social contexts from their point of view. Participants grew up with a habitus of achievement that came from the …

Using Bourdieu In Communication And Forensics Research, Stephen P. Hagan

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

As norms in the forensics community are often unspoken and have few identifiable starting points, habitus and Bourdieu seems an apt place to begin an analysis. Further, such analysis can serve as a potential case study for broader applications of Bourdieu to communication studies. Thus, my goal is to provide an overview of Bourdieu’s work through his interconnecting ideas of habitus, field, and cultural capital and use those concepts to discuss college forensics as a case study of how communicative norms and attitudes are shaped in small collective social structures such as forensics. Building from that application, I explore ways …

Killing Silence: A Path To Increasing Homicide Solvability In Urban Communities, Dennis Thornton

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Relatively low rates of homicide solvability results in law-abiding citizens being forced to co-exist with known murderers, which is detrimental to a community’s psyche. This condition happens disproportionately in neighborhoods where crime is high, cohesiveness among its members is weak, and the citizen/police relationship is little or non-existent. This research sought to understand this phenomenon by asking,” How can murder solvability rates improve in marginalized communities?” and employing four theoretical lenses. Using the city of New Orleans as a case study and holding Social Disorganization Theory constant, Spiral of Silence, Habitus, and Dramaturgy were utilized in an attempt to understand …

Social Class And Social Networks: How Sociocultural Upbringing Affects Organizational Social Networks, Jacqueline Tilton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Organizations are a key venue where individuals from different backgrounds have the opportunity to interact and yet we know very little about how social class background shapes interactions within the workplace. There is reason to believe that the differing value systems of social class groups influence their attitudes and behavior towards workplace connections and relationship formation. This article considers how social class background affects organizational social networks as well as the class-distinct values and attitudes that shape networking behavior of employees. To study this phenomena, I analyze a sample of 490 employees from a broad range of roles and organizations …

Indigenous Knowledge And The Development Debate In Africa, Fidelis Ewane, Samson Ajagbe

International Journal of African Development

This research employs Bourdieu’s theory of habitus to explain the disposition of the donor community to integrate indigenous knowledge systems and practices into development projects. The theory’s objectivist perspective specifies the mechanism that links structural conditioning to social practice and regularities. It holds that power is culturally and symbolically created, and it is constantly re-legitimized through the interplay of agency and structure. This facilitates an analysis of the development field as social space characterized by indigenous and donor power relations. It argues that the reinforcement of indigenous knowledge as the main channel for development will generate transferable local capacities and …

From Habits To Habitus: Chinese Elites Attempt To Create An Aristocratic Class Along The British Model, Karina Salomatina

Master's Projects and Capstones

Lately, new trends have appeared in the spending habits of Chinese elites, which include money spent on etiquette classes, butler service, British afternoon tea, debutante balls, education in boarding schools, and immigration to Britain. These new consumption patterns of Chinese elites signify their desire and attempt to adopt the British aristocratic lifestyle portrayed in popular TV series, classical novels and mass media. This study examines anthropological research, documentary videos, news reports and interviews with Chinese elites and applies Bourdieu’s theory of habitus as the main analytical tool in order to explain this phenomenon. Considering that forty years ago all Chinese …

Racial Complexities Of Outdoor Spaces: An Analysis Of African American’S Lived Experiences In Outdoor Recreation, Matthew Charles Goodrid

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the racial power imbalances that exists within the outdoor recreation industry. Despite participation rates being quantified, limited research explores the lived experiences and perspective of people of color. In this study, I explore the socio-historical development of outdoor recreational spaces, existing environmental habitus and African Americans lived experiences in outdoor recreation. To emphasize the voice of the participants, twelve African American millennials were interviewed. Questions in the interviews revolved around their perception of outdoor recreation and personal experiences while participating in outdoor recreation. Three overarching themes emerged from their stories, i) the typology of outdoor recreation, ii) …

Painters Of Modernity: A Bourdieusian Analysis Of Manet And Degas, Gillian Wei

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I utilize the theoretical framework of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu to analyze the representation of class ideology in the paintings of French Impressionists Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas. Using Bourdieu’s theories of habitus and class distinction, I investigate various historical and biographical factors to illustrate how Manet and Degas were simultaneously endowed with significant cultural and economic capital of the old elite, yet predisposed to create reactionary art. I also identify several examples of bourgeoisie iconography within specific paintings created by these two artists. I argue that Manet and Degas, acting as agents within the fields of cultural …

How Do Educational Leaders In Small, Fragile, And Developing Countries Translate Their Understandings Of Student Learning And Achievement Into Leadership Practices? A Case-Study About Leadership In Haïtian Urban Schools, Carolyne Pierre Marie Verret

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Haïti is unique in many respects; full of contradictions and paradoxes. While beautiful in many regards, it is fraught with issues: political, economic, societal, environmental, cultural, health-related, and educational. The latter stands out, however, as education affects the quality of the country’s human capital, determining the quality of life of its citizens. Therefore, having competent people in leadership positions is critical especially within schools where they can impact students’ learning, development, and achievement (SL/A).

Aiming to describe the state of educational leadership in Haïtian schools to inform policy-makers of the lived-experiences of educational leaders (ELs), the objectives of this study …

Social Class Tensions, Habitus And The Advertising Of Guinness, John Connolly, Paddy Dolan

Articles

Drawing from an Eliasian perspective we examine how an ‘advertising subjectivity’ became more firmly embedded within the bourgeois habitus. We explain how and why advertising slowly developed and expanded within a commercial organization despite initial opposition, ambivalence and even hostility from some of its bourgeois senior management towards the practice – the very social class sometimes identified with advertising’s origins and advance. Our empirical case is based on Arthur Guinness & Sons Ltd, the Irish company which came to be renowned for the alcohol beverage which carried its name – Guinness stout. We explain how the development of advertising was …

Habitus, The Writings Of Irish Hunger Strikers And Elias's The Loneliness Of The Dying, John Connolly, Paddy Dolan

Articles

»Habitus, die Texte der irischen Hungerstreikenden und Elias', Die Einsamkeit der Sterbenden'«. Elias maintained that over the course of several centuries death has become associated with greater shame and embarrassment feelings due mainly to four interwoven processes. In this paper we consider how these specific processes or 'special conditions' Elias referred to, in conjunction with other processes, shaped the experience of dying and the image of death for twentieth century Irish hunger strikers.

Habitus, Symbolic Violence, And Reflexivity: Applying Bourdieu’S Theories To Social Work, Wendy L. Wiegmann

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

During the mid- to late-twentieth century, Pierre Bourdieu crated a conceptual framework that describes how underclass status becomes embodied in individuals, and the ways that personal, professional, and political fields perpetuate this oppression. Bourdieu’s theories also outline the role of the “critical intellectual” in undermining oppression and fighting for social justice. Using key terms from Bourdieu’s explanatory framework, this article examines the power relations and symbolic violence built into the interactions between social workers and clients, and offers suggestions as to how reflexive and relational social work can help workers reduce this impact. This paper also explores the role of …

From Dislocation To Disengagement: The Experiences Of Low-Income And First Generation College Students, Azure S. Mcginty

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this thesis, I examine the experiences of low-income and first generation college students who are enrolled members of the TRiO Student Support Program at the University of Montana. This program is designed to cater to the specific academic struggles of low-income and first generation college students. There is a wealth of scholarly literature concerning this population of students and their risk of dropping out of college. Researchers have found these students are susceptible to habitus dislocation, which causes many of these students to feel torn between acclimating to college and forfeiting their membership in the working-class. One of the …

Habitus And The Labor Of Representation Among Elite Professionals, Elisabeth Brooke Harrington

Brooke Harrington

Anchors, Habitus, And Practices Besieged By War: Women And Gender In The Blockade Of Leningrad, Jeffrey K. Hass

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

As war challenges survival and social relations, how do actors alter and adapt dispositions and practices? To explore this question, I investigate women's perceptions of normal relations, practices, status, and gendered self in an intense situation of wartime survival, the Blockade of Leningrad (1941–1944), an 872-day ordeal that demographically feminized the city. Using Blockade diaries for data on everyday life, perceptions, and practices, I show how women's gendered skills and habits of breadseeking and caregiving (finding scarce resources and providing aid) were key to survival and helped elevate their sense of status. Yet this did not entice rethinking “gender.” To …

Emature: Intergenerational Networks In Digital Media Spaces, Andras Lukacs

Dissertations

While the literature on adolescent usage of the Internet and mobile communication technology is burgeoning, the technological affordance of increased intergenerational contacts and intergenerational friendships received less attention. This project documents how intergenerational virtual networks operate in one particular massively multiplayer online game (World of Warcraft) from the standpoint of adolescent players. Online social worlds are similar to offline settings in a lot of ways. Users must obey certain behavioral standards and follow established rules and moral codes to participate. Despite accounts of online democracy and networked individualism, control and authority is central to the functioning of these environments. Power-relationships …

Inverted Quarantine: Individual Response To Collective Fear, Katherine Parker Moncure

Honors Papers

In his 2007 book Shopping Our Way to Safety, sociologist Andrew Szasz coined the term inverted quarantine to describe a phenomenon in the way that Americans react to the changing natural environment. Inverted quarantine, or the impulse to remove one’s self from perceived environmental dangers, often manifests in consumption behavior such as consuming only organic food, drinking filtered or bottled water, moving from a city to a suburb, or even being enclosed in a gated community. Although inverted quarantine may result in some form of protection, in the long run it is unsustainable in the face of the changing natural …