Pierre Bourdieu and Distinction

Pierre Bourdieu is one the most influential sociologists and philosophers of class. He is best known for his book Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste in which he connects artistic judgements with social status. Most notably, he expanded on the ideas that class is defined by capital, that there are several kinds of capital, and that a habitus exists.
Bourdieu proposes the idea that, though class is predominantly defined by economic capital, so wealth and money, how people earn or inherit that wealth can be influences by other forms of capital. Cultural capital is the ability to “play the game of life”, so to speak, and is linked to social groups and the hierarchies within them. People who achieve success through connections and manners possess this kind of capital. Educational capital is an extension of cultural capital. Essentially, education is having a certificate of cultural capital. This explains why doctors and high-academics enjoy high class. Cultural capital is further broken down in other forms of capital, such as social capital, or the ability to make use of scholastic or cultural capital. Body capital, such as the fame obtained by models, is based on the possession of the socially-ideal body or the use of ones body to earn money. Political and linguist capital have to do, obviously, with political power and a handle on language in order to manipulate or command the situation.

Habitus, an idea Bourdieu pioneered and is now widely accepted, explains Cinderella-like situations. He proposes that classes have distinct characteristics, tastes, beliefs and values that are taught and perpetuated and that these characteristics influence an individual. However, this norm is only secondary to what an individual truly prefers or desires; thus we have the underdog situations. This concept also offers a possible basis for a cultural approach to structural inequality.