Bourdieu's 'Notion Of Habitus And Williams'

Gabbi Feigenson
Dialogues in Critical Social Studies
Exam 1, question 4

Although there are many similarities and connections among Bourdieu’s notion of habitus and Williams’ notions of hegemony and structure of feeling, there are also many differences. Through a brief discussion of the three concepts, the reasons why hegemony and structure of feeling would seem to challenge habitus, rather than support it, will become apparent.
Bourieu’s notion of habitus is one of a way of organizing everything around a set of assumptions about a place. The social practices, and assumptions about those practices, make up habitus. It is a social construction that is the reason for certain social norms or behaviors, though it feels more innate than that;
Williams’ notion of Hegemony is a critical concept broader than traditional ideology and takes a look at the problems with ideology. Under the idea of hegemony, is the idea that there is never complete or total domination; there is always a counter-hegemony, that which resists is. Hegemony includes social practices and what we deem “common sense,” which is similar to what habitus encompasses with society’s “flow.” Habitius also has a sense of control, just as hegemony does, but habitus has a more structural sense. It takes a closer look at the relationships between what people think, closer to the way ideology does, not just the social
Counter-hegemony is essentially resistance to the idea of hegemonic power; there is a general opposition to the function of hegemonic power in political and social practice. Hegemony is always haunted by counter-hegemony, and actually counters structure of feeling, whereas there is no discussion a counter-habitus. Since habitus is a notion of innate social habit, there is no power of control that is associated with it. Hegemony, on the other hand, is about social practices that become a dominant way of doing things, but there is no sense of inherency. Since counter-hegemony is always a part of hegemony, this is why hegemony would only seem to support habitus, when in fact it is more of a challenge to Bourdieu’s concept. Counter-hegemony also opposes structures of feeling in this way because counter-hegemony is resistance to the common-sense, or emergent structure of social norms and practice, which is essentially what structure of feeling discusses. Although counter-hegemony challenges structure of feeling, which, in turn, challenges habitus, it does not actually support