Disgusted Subjects: The Making of Middle-Class Identities

Abstract

Although the classed dimensions of 'taste' have, following Bourdieu, been widely discussed, expressions of disgust at perceived violations of taste have been less frequently considered in relation to class. This paper considers various expressions of disgust at white working-class existence and explores what they might tell us about middle-class identities and identifications.

The Intersections of Class, Gender, Sexuality and ‘Race’: The Political Economy of Gendered Violence

“…It has been argued that there is a form of symbolic violence undertaken by the middle classes on the working classes (Skeggs 1997 and. This involves both fear and disgust (Lawler 2005). This has been a way in which social stratification has operated to hierarchically organise different forms of women.…”

(Re)Examining the Feminist Interview: Rapport, Gender “Matching,” and Emotional Labour

“…This period of professionalising, creating, and dividing disciplines and specialisms was also a period of more fully delineating class boundaries. Emotions and the work done on them are an important part of class identity, as Lawler, for example, argues (Lawler, 2005; see also Tyler, 2008). The middle-class home is also argued to be the basis of teaching children emotional control as part of civilising them for wider society (particularly the role of women); learning to be polite, controlled, and law-abiding (Gunn, 2005: pp.…”

The Finnish Pentecostal Movement: An Analysis of Internal Struggle as a Process of Habitual Division

“…Sociologist Stephanie Lawler analyzes how people describe themselves by expressing disgust over styles and practices they do not appreciate, and do not want to be associated with. She uses the concept of disgusted subjects to refer to such identification processes (Lawler 2005). Similarly, Pentecostals' disgust over "worldliness" and "stagnation" respectively may be seen as ways of establishing their own habitus while distancing themselves from the alternative side (Mantsinen 2014;Fieldnotes 2014).…”

“…Presenting the other habitus as unwanted (cf. Lawler 2005) or "unbiblical" is a strategy of limiting the acceptable cultural sphere, deeming one's own preferences as legitimate. Other discourses are used as well: While the HK side seeks "authenticity" for the HH and Pentecostalism, the SHK side questions this version of "authenticity.…”