Negotiating Habitus

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the experiences of the working-class boys within the grammar school and how (or whether) these boys reconcile their habitus with the institutional habitus of the school. The relationship between the boys’ habitus and the habitus promoted, inculcated, and valued by the institution will be discussed. The school has a very academic ethos and the boys are expected to comply and demonstrate particular dispositions. At the same time the boys have grown up in a working-class neighbourhood where dispositions have developed that are not necessarily aligned with the school field. This chapter explores some of the tensions that arise when the boys’ habitus encounter the school field.