How the Habitus Facilitates Class Reproduction and Social Mobility

Bourdieu’s theory of the habitus explains class reproduction but undertheorizes social mobility. I address this by developing the conditions model of the habitus, which preserves the concept’s core features while challenging Bourdieu’s assumption that people in the same class share the same conditions and habitus. Using interviews from the National Study of Youth and Religion, I demonstrate that youth in the same class develop different habitus in different conditions. At the bottom of the class structure, youth raised in constraining conditions typically form a habitus oriented toward class reproduction, whereas those in less constraining conditions often form a habitus oriented toward upward mobility. At the top, youth raised in conditions free from constraint tend to develop a habitus geared toward class reproduction, and those in more constrained conditions develop a habitus oriented toward downward mobility. Thus, separating class from conditions illuminates how the habitus contributes to both reproduction and mobility.