1. The Bio-Habitus: Using Pain Science to Reconstruct Bourdieusian Theory
- Author
-
Leeds, Tyler
- Subjects
Sociology ,Human Society ,Pain Research ,Chronic Pain ,habitus ,pain ,Bourdieu ,hysteresis ,biology - Abstract
Habitus is society inscribed on the body, but Bourdieu does not explore how biological processes interact with habitus, namely, how action flows from a bio-habitus. I engage pain science to illustrate this point. First, I document how dispositions—specific components of habitus—mediate pain both before and after its onset. Second, I explain how pain alters cognition and affect, an interaction I contend inhibits the habitus. Far from placing the biological over the social, my discussion illustrates how the two are inseparable, a unity underlined by the term bio-habitus. I demonstrate how this concept intervenes in Bourdieusian debates over social reproduction and how the biological inhibition of habitus compares to work on hysteresis. I end by discussing resonances with and implications for disability studies.
- Published
- 2024