Habitus and the practical logic of practice: An interpretation

Abstract

Bourdieu confuses himself and others by calling his project a ‘transcendence’ of the objectivist–subjectivist antinomy. Contrary to claims, Bourdieu’s methodology and theoretical premises are directly opposed to phenomenological social constructivism, though he makes use of several key phenomenological concepts. Habitus enriches the objectivist perspective by specifying a partial theory of agency which, contrary to critics, is non-reductionist. Habitus’ current formulation and usage brim with inconsistencies and ambiguities. It is non-reflective but not corporeal; it should not be equated to cultural capital; it is specifiable into concrete components instead of being ‘difficult to specify empirically’.The concepts of practical logic and doxa are connatural to habitus, but the concept of strategy derives from a different premise and is non-essential to habitus.The above interpretation derives from the critical realist view. An empirical study of China’s trade unionists is provided for illustration.