habitus

Habitus is a concept in sociology and anthropology used to describe the system of durable, transposable dispositions through which individuals perceive, judge, and act in the social world. It encompasses tastes, bodily comportment, and practical knowledge—patterns of thought and behavior that are internalized in long-standing social conditions from family, class, and cultural upbringing. The term was introduced by Pierre Bourdieu to explain how social structures are embodied and reproduced in everyday practice.

It is not a set of conscious rules but a pre-reflective orientation that shapes choices and actions without requiring deliberate calculation. Habitus is durable, tending to persist across different contexts, yet it is not fixed; it is malleable enough to adapt when agents encounter new fields of activity, such as transitions from school to work. It is often described as both the product of structure and a resource for action: it mediates between objective social conditions and individual agency.

Habitus is intimately linked to the concept of field, a social arena with its own rules, actors, and forms of capital (economic, cultural, social). The dispositions of habitus influence how individuals navigate fields, construct taste, and reproduce or challenge social arrangements. Because it is primarily unconscious and embodied, habitus can contribute to social reproduction through seemingly natural practices while also giving room for creativity and change through new experiences.

Critics argue that the concept risks determinism or essentialism if overextended, and that it is difficult to measure empirically. Despite criticisms, habitus remains influential in studies of class, education, culture, and identity, offering a framework to analyze the interplay between structure and agency without reducing either to the other.