Habitus

Habitus Synopsis

This title was first published in 2002: Habitus is a concept developed by the late French philosopher, Pierre Bourdieu, as a 'sense of one's place...a sense of the other's place'. It relates to our perceptions of space and place and how these perceptions affect our actions, not only in shaping the form of environments, but also simply in our experience and interaction with places. Habitus implies that a web of complex processes inseparably links the physical, the social and the mental. Inspired by this concept, this compelling book brings together leading scholars from interdisciplinary fields to examine ways in which spaces and places are constructed, read and used by different people. Following a key chapter by Pierre Bourdieu himself, the book is divided into sections guided by the following three questions: How does the notion of Habitus help us understand international and national political structures and activities? Does Habitus help explain processes of place-making in relation to practices of the built environment? How durable is Habitus: might it undergo transformation in changing circumstances? The last publication Pierre Bourdieu was involved in, it is a tribute to his remarkable contribution to the field.