Fleshing Out an Ecological Habitus: Field and Capitals of Radical Environmental Movements

Abstract

This article relates the theoretical concept of ecological habitus to the specific context of radical environmental movements. I begin by examining how the term “ecological habitus” has been interpreted by sociologists to date and identify two evident tensions in relation to Bourdieu’s original notion of habitus. I then expand the concept of ecological habitus by considering field and capital(s) within radical environmental movements. I suggest that two broad streams of environmental concern, reformist environmentalism and ecologism, shape ecological habitus in different ways. I also advance that these same theoretical frameworks interact with organic and built habitats in particular ways that can in turn connect and shape ecological habitus to immediate landscape. Finally, I deal with the complexity of transferring ecological habitus (single field) to contemporary society (multiple fields) and propose an alternative term, green habitus, to describe an ecologically relevant habitus that occurs within contemporary society.