Thinking About Masculinity, Class and Music with Bourdieu

Abstract

This chapter outlines the theoretical resources inspired by the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu used in the study. The warrant for taking a Bourdieu-inspired approach is developed by speaking back to the critiques of his work and outlining how the book will take up insights from feminist Bourdieusian sociology to expand contemporary debates on masculinities and class in education. The main conceptual resources—habitus, capital, field—are outlined, as well as how I operationalise them to explore the forms of power this musical habitus has and how it is acquired. The chapter concludes by briefly explaining the research methodology of this work and introducing the young boys who participated in the research, their mothers and teachers, from a prestigious boys’ choir in Australia.