Explain the concept of habitus, including a discussion of the relationship between agency and structure.
What will be an ideal response?
Ans: Varies. Free will or agency allows us to make choices on how we want our life to look like. Agency individuals act independently on their choices. According to Bourdieu, agency must be understood in the context of structure; meaning a person’s choices or abilities happen within or in relation to a structure. Additionally, habitus is the environment or space in which one makes these decisions and can enact them. For example, if a student lives in a low-income urban area with lack of resources and wants to attend college, but does not know anyone with a college degree in his neighborhood, his agency to reach college (structure) is hinted by the habitus he resides in.
KEY: Learning Objective: 3.4: Explain how sociologists theorize the relationship between culture and social class.
REF: Cognitive Domain: Application
Answer Location: Culture, Class, and Inequality
Difficulty Level: Hard
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