Challenging Bourdieu’s Theory: Dialogic Interaction as a Means to Provide Access to Highbrow Culture for All

Elisabeth Torras-Gómez,Laura Ruiz-Eugenio,Teresa Sordé-Martí,Elena Duque

doi:10.1177/21582440211010739

Elisabeth Torras-Gómez, Laura Ruiz-Eugenio + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211010739

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Abstract

According to Bourdieu, class position is related to cultural capital, taste, and preferences. Accordingly, the author states that, because of their “habitus,” those from high social classes have higher cultural capital and preferences for highbrow culture, which gives them more chances to succeed in life. On the contrary, those from low social classes have lower cultural capital because of their lowbrow cultural preferences, which makes it more difficult for them to achieve in a system that favors the dominant classes. Through the review of articles on Dialogic Literary Gatherings published in peer-reviewed journals, this article aims to provide more insights on how the principles of dialogic learning occur. The results of the review challenge Bourdieu’s concept of “habitus,” providing evidence of how socioeconomic status (SES) is not determinant to cultural capital.

Highlights

The findings presented in this theoretical framework lead to at least two conclusions regarding the homology of the habitus (Bourdieu, 1979)
Through a literature review, we have challenged the concept of habitus and the relationship between taste, cultural capital, and social class, focusing on the transformative power of the dialogic model of education (Flecha, 2000)
We have pointed out how an Successful Educational Actions (SEA) such as Dialogic Literary Gatherings (DLG) can contribute to overcoming the negative contextual characteristics that students may encounter and explain cultural mobility

Summary

Introduction

The reproductionist character of some of his concepts and theories have been the focus for a large part of the critiques of his work, there is no consensus on the extent to which concepts such as the “habitus” or the role of the educational system as a reproducer of inequalities are still valid in today’s societies. King (2000), in “Thinking With Bourdieu Against Bourdieu,” goes further in exploring the complexity of this controversy Concepts such as “habitus” have an important structuralist limitation, he argues that Bourdieu points at certain moments with lucidity toward overcoming the dualism of objectivism-subjectivism and agency-structure. In “In Other Words: Essays Toward a Reflective Sociology” (1987), Bourdieu acknowledges that some of his theory was mainly structuralist He explains that it was not after he read Gramsci that his positions began to shift toward new conceptions. The second idea is the role of the educational system as a reproducer of inequalities

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