The Political and Journalistic Fields in Brazil: Autonomy and Habitus

Abstract

Drawing on the complementary Bourdieusian concepts of ‘fi eld’ and ‘habitus’ – a fi eld is socially structured as such only if its members follow a particular habitus, and the existence of a habitus in a particular fi eld depends on informal rules being observed by its members – this article analyzes the relationship between the journalistic and political fi elds in Brazil. The main question shaping our course is: how autonomous is the journalistic fi eld? We have analyzed media-owning politicians in Brazil. This affi liation to discrete fi elds is the subject of the fi rst section. Any measurement of the autonomy of a given fi eld must consider whether the habitus of the fi eld is suffi ciently clear to its members. The journalistic habitus is the subject of the second section.