Towards a Non-Deterministic Reading of Pierre Bourdieu: Habitus and Educational Change in Urban Schools

Abstract

Building on the social reproduction theory of Pierre Bourdieu, this study examines the impact of school context and institutional agency on shaping urban students' access to social and cultural capital resources, which are selectively valued and rewarded by the education system, in two schools across two high-poverty, intensely segregated urban districts in the United States. These resources are linked in turn to students' habitus: their educational expectations and the orientations and practices they generate. Although the concept of habitus is often conceptualized as a durable product of socialization within families, we present findings to suggest conditions in schools under which it can be altered. This study elucidates key conceptual frameworks within institutional contexts that can be operationalized in shaping students' habitus and facilitating positive educational outcomes.