Capturing habitus: theory, method and reflexivity

Costa, Cristina; Burke, Ciaran; Murphy, Mark

Abstract

Bourdieu’s career long endeavour was to devise both theoretical and methodological tools that could apprehend and explain the social world and its mechanisms of cultural (re)production and related forms of domination. Amongst the several key concepts developed by Bourdieu, habitus has gained prominence as both a research lens and a research instrument useful to enter individuals’ trajectories and ‘histories’ of practices. While much attention has been paid to the theoretical significance of habitus, less emphasis has been placed on its methodological implications. This paper explores the application of the concept of habitus as both theory and method across two sub-fields of educational research: graduate employment and digital scholarship practices. The findings of this reflexive testing of habitus suggest that bridging the theory-method comes with its own set of challenges for the researcher; challenges which reveal the importance of taking the work of application seriously in research settings.

Citation

Costa, C., Burke, C., & Murphy, M. (2019). Capturing habitus: theory, method and reflexivity. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 42(1), 19-32. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727x.2017.1420771

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 29, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jan 11, 2018
• Publication Date: 2019
• Deposit Date: Sep 16, 2019
• Journal: International Journal of Research & Method in Education
• Print ISSN: 1743-727X
• Electronic ISSN: 1743-7288
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 42
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 19-32
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727x.2017.1420771
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1286445
• Related Public URLs: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/62204/