BOX 1.3 : BOURDIEU ON HABITUS
Bourdieu defines habitus as “systems, of durable, transposable dispositions, structured structures predisposed to operate as structuring structures , that is, as principles which generate and organize practices and representations that can be objectively adapted to their outcomes without presupposing a conscious aiming at ends or an express mastery of the operations necessary in order to attain them.
Quoted in Cockerham, 2005. |
Postmodern sociology is more about emancipation of plural subjects and their choices rather than truth claims. It focuses on small groups, their risks and dispositions and supports their advocacy. In place of theorizing at the level of society, it looks for practical solutions to problems of specific subjects (agency). For example, in case of health it says that the responsibility for one's health falls on oneself through healthy living (Cockerham, 2005). New sociologists of population are taking increasing interests in the emerging relationships between gender, race, class, religion, media, market and health.
In the new age, increasing number of sociologists favour qualitative approach, paradigmatic theories and counter-structural method. There is a preference for understanding subjective meanings in place of positivistic explanation. For this, a particular theoretical orientation is chosen without any claim for universalization. Then an attempt is made to ensure that the findings of narratives of health and illness (or other issues pertaining to life) are in agreement with the subjects' understanding of them. In the years to come, “population studies” are likely to take over “demography”. Qualitative methods will take over modelling and the theory of vulnerable and marginal groups will take over the mathematical and statistical studies of population and society. Students of population need to be prepared for this.
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