Distinction & The Aristocracy of Culture - Pierre Bourdieu

Traditionally, to be 'well cultured' can be determined by how many books someone has read, how many languages you can speak, what music you listen, the clothes you wear etc. It can come down to the education someone has had, and the understanding that if the 'cultured' life is not exposed to you, you cannot learn much about it. This creates a heirachy of how cultured someone can become. If you are top A grade student at school and go onto an Oxbridge college you are generally though of as more cultured than someone who achieved no grades at school and is now unemployed.

Bourdieu's theory on how 'cultured' we are comes from a distinction of our identities and what makes us unique. He believed in 5 aspects of our individuality. The habitus, structure, doxa, social space, cultural capital.

habitus - where the individual stands in society. where they position themself in certain groups. this can be in your family group, friendship group, social group (football team for example) etc. this can determine what clothing style you like, the music your into, the people you like / dislike etc.

social structure - how we adapt to the changes in society, or how society changes us.

doxa - the social constructs fromed through the habitus. this includes all the things we take for granted in life, such as our families. the things we expect will always be there.

social space - where certain groups in society belong. people who share the same interests belong in groups where these can be put into practise, like a football team, reading group etc. it can determine who we like / dislike, where we want to live / dont want to live, or what things you are going to do.

cultural capital - also helps us to negotiate our social space. there are three types of cultural capital; embodied capital (what we know and do and habitus and stricture allow us to negotiate the embodied capital) objectified capital (the money you recieve from how you may use your embodied capital) institutionalised capital (the goods you recieve from what you exchange your money for)