CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Khurshid, Syed Kamran |
|---|---|
| Title | The Affective Basis of Sense of Position in Social Space: An Interactionist Account of Habitus Transformation in Public Speaking Practices |
| Summary | The idea that habitus formed through early socialization is amenable to transformation, is presented in Bourdieu’s later works and is supported by a good number of empirical studies now. However, I highlight that there are identified gaps related to the conditions in which this change happens, the processes through which it happens and whether it is guided by an orientation that may affect this change. Through enactive ethnography and interviewing, I study the practices of members of a public speaking club and inquire how the social conditions at the club create a possibility for the members to experience a transformation from being shy in their practices to becoming a confident public speaker. I find that the sense of position, which otherwise remains affect-neutral in Bourdieu’s account, is marked by an affective grip in the case of club members, especially my interviewees. I find this affect to be located on a continuum that ranges from shyness to confidence and driven by a categorical difference in the nature of fear that drives their practices. The genesis of habitus transformation on this continuum takes place at the point where these members begin to see the fear of failure as a fear that is limited to and directed toward an activity as against a fear that is related to the presence of other members and encompasses the failure of their whole self. I find an interactionist approach and Meadian concept of the ‘Generalized Other’ instructive in explaining the mechanism of this transformation. |
| Supervisor | Fabiani, Jean-Louis; Kowalski, Alexandra |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/khurshid_kamran.pdf |
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