Habitus Disjunctures, Reflexivity and White Working-Class Boys’ Conceptions of Status in Learner and Social Identities

Abstract

The article primarily explores the social class identification of 15 white working-class boys at a high performing school in a socially marginalized area of South London where academic performance was routinely depicted as crucial to economic and social well-being. The research aims to consider the influence of a high performing school on the boys’ identity and the relationship between their identity and their engagement with education. First, a brief background on white working-class boys ‘underachievement’ will provide the context. Second, Bourdieu's conceptual tools of habitus, institutional habitus and capitals are examined. Bourdieu's class analysis provides a useful conceptual framework to address (divided) working-class masculinities in a high attaining academic institution. Third, semi-structured interviews focused on academic self-concept, social class-identification and subsequent rationales, as well as participants’ identification of who they considered to be a student they admire, provide valuable insight into understanding habitus disjunctures and learner identities.

‘It has really amazed me what my body can now do’: boundary work and the construction of a body-positive dance community

“…This led to many IDers redefining their perceptions of body capability and worth; empowering them to transform gender boundaries and enabling them to claim an identity as a dancer. In this way, ID represented a point of disjuncture (Reay 2008) for many and offered the opportunity to begin a transformation of habitus through revising the schemes of perception and appreciation that shaped their practice (Stahl 2013). Crossing into the ID space allowed individuals to shift into a landscape with redefined boundaries, in which alternative perspectives on bodily appearance, capability and worth (physical capital) were possible.…”

“…At first, as Greg suggests here, dancers can feel as though they were putting the body on display and experience initial discomfort (Stahl 2013). Considering how far they have come is also an element of a reflexive process that assists in (re)developing a dance habitus (emerald and Barbour 2014).…”

“…It suggests a disjuncture between habitus and field in other contexts (Reay 2008). Stahl (2013) argues that it is important to recognise that disjunctures can foster transformations and suggests that habitus only truly becomes transformative when the 'unthinking habitus' is jolted into consciousness (Reay 2004). …”

“…The ballet training in ID encouraged reflexivity about the self and critique of the norms that had shaped learners' perceptions of their embodied selves within other dance contexts. In this way, it perhaps fostered a sense of disjuncture (Reay 2008) from the broader field of dance and opened up the possibility of transforming or interrupting the habitus (Gorely et al 2003;Stahl 2013) through encouraging more conscious reflection on the norms and ideals that are used to shape practice.…”

‘The Person God Made Me to Be’: Navigating Working-Class and Christian Identities in English Evangelical Christianity

“…Empirical work on the lived experience of class has explored a variety of everyday spheres including relationships, family and the home (Johnson and Lawler 2005;Walkerdine et al 2001), education (Addison and Mountford 2013;Allen 2014;Reay et al 2009Reay et al , 2010Abrahams and Ingram 2013;Stahl 2013) and the workplace (Hebson 2009;Friedman 2016). However, study of the sphere of religious life and of how class and religious identities relate to one another has been relatively limited (however see Mellor 2010).…”