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From habitus to pragma

A phenomenological critique of Bourdieu's habitus

Bibliographic Data

ID8975659
AuthorsBesnik Pula (0000-0002-2959-4581, Political Science Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg Virginia United States, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume50
Issue3
Pages248-262
Publication date2019-12-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal for the Theory of Social Behaviour (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8308 • E-ISSN: 1468-5914
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jtsb.12231
OpenAlexW2996695863
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited46

Bourdieu's concept of habitus relies heavily on insights from phenomenology, yet his theoretical effort falls short of existing phenomenological solutions to the problems of cognition, agency, and reflexivity in social action. These shortcomings are evident in the analytical and descriptive failures of the concept of habitus documented by critics. Turning to the work of Alfred Schutz, this paper offers his concept of pragma, meaning context, and theory of relevances as an alternative way to describe the embodied and temporal nature of social action and accounting for social determinations. The paper further parses out key differences between Schutz's social phenomenological understanding of embodied action and Bourdieu's habitus, including differences in understanding schemas of standardization and their relation with objectivities of the social world. The paper ends with a call for a critical reassessment of Schutz's social phenomenology, with potentially wide ranging implications not only for understandings of agency, but also of meaning and the constitution of objectivities of the social world, as well the underlying interpretive method of social science

Action (physics · Agency (philosophy · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Habitus · Phenomenology (philosophy · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Structure and agency · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Critical Realism in Sociology · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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Unique citing works10
Citations per year1,67
Citation span2020 - 2026 (7)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 9
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