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The Chameleon Habitus: Exploring Local Students’ Negotiations of Multiple Fields

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  • Jessica Abrahams
  • Nicola Ingram

Abstract

This study utilises an innovative creative method of plasticine modelling to explore the identities of local students (those who live in their family home) at the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England. Students created models representing their identity, which were used as a springboard for in-depth discussion. Through drawing upon Bourdieusian theory this article attempts to shed new sociological light on the subject of local student experiences. In much of the literature this is presented as problematic and it is often argued that local students either ‘miss out’ on the conventional university experience or that they are stuck between two worlds. This paper, however, presents a more complex picture of local students’ experiences of inhabiting local and university spaces. The data is analysed through a Bourdieusian lens in which the university and local worlds are seen as fields of struggle, this allows for a nuanced understanding of how students conceptualise their positions and dispositions in relation to both fields. The findings indicate that living at home can be both problematic and of benefit to the working-class students in particular. Despite being immersed within two somewhat contradictory fields they can sometimes develop various strategies to enable them to overcome any internal conflict. In this article we draw uniquely upon Bhabha's concept of a third space to expand upon Bourdieusian theory, arguing that a ‘cleft habitus’ is not always negative and can be a resource for some in their attempts to negotiate new fields.

Suggested Citation

  • Jessica Abrahams & Nicola Ingram, 2013. "The Chameleon Habitus: Exploring Local Students’ Negotiations of Multiple Fields," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 18(4), pages 213-226, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:18:y:2013:i:4:p:213-226
    DOI: 10.5153/sro.3189
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alexandra Allan, 2012. "Power, Participation and Privilege - Methodological Lessons from Using Visual Methods in Research with Young People," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 17(3), pages 256-266, August.
    2. Sumi Hollingworth & Ayo Mansaray, 2012. "Conviviality under the Cosmopolitan Canopy? Social mixing and friendships in an urban secondary school," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 17(3), pages 195-206, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Maria Laura Ruiu & Gabriele Ruiu & Massimo Ragnedda & Felice Addeo, 2024. "Exploring Digital-Environment Habitus in Italy—How Digital Practices Reflect Users’ Environmental Orientations?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-21, June.
    2. Garth Stahl & Pamela Burnard & Rosie Perkins, 2017. "Critical Reflections on the Use of Bourdieu’s Tools ‘In Concert’ to Understand the Practices of Learning in Three Musical Sites," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 22(3), pages 57-77, September.
    3. Jon Dean, 2015. "Drawing What Homelessness Looks Like: Using Creative Visual Methods as a Tool of Critical Pedagogy," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 20(1), pages 1-16, February.
    4. Tom Clark & Rita Hordósy, 2019. "Social Identification, Widening Participation and Higher Education: Experiencing Similarity and Difference in an English Red Brick University," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 24(3), pages 353-369, September.
    5. Jin Jin, 2022. "Class Identification, Deferred Elimination, and Social Reproduction in Education: ‘Ontological Ambivalences’ Experienced by Working-Class Students at Elite Universities in China," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(4), pages 896-913, December.
    6. Michael Donnelly & Alex Baratta & Sol Gamsu, 2019. "A Sociolinguistic Perspective on Accent and Social Mobility in the UK Teaching Profession," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 24(4), pages 496-513, December.
    7. Andrea Lizama-Loyola & Denisse Sepúlveda & Alexandrina Vanke, 2022. "Making Sense of Social Mobility in Unequal Societies," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(1), pages 95-100, March.
    8. Jiexiu Chen, 2022. "Hysteresis Effects and Emotional Suffering: Chinese Rural Students’ First Encounters With the Urban University," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(1), pages 101-117, March.
    9. Megan Thiele & Amy Leisenring, 2022. "Class Incorporated: Stratified Patterns of Academic Engagement at a Highly Selective University," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(2), pages 415-433, June.
    10. Mark Holton, 2015. "Learning the rules of the ‘student game’: transforming the ‘student habitus’ through [im]mobility," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 47(11), pages 2373-2388, November.
    11. Berenice Scandone, 2022. "‘I Don’t Want to Completely Lose Myself’: Social Mobility as Movement Across Classed, Ethnicised, and Gendered Spaces," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(1), pages 172-188, March.

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