Psychological methods promise to help sociologists to better understand patterns of inequality.

What is it about?

Much sociological literature makes use of the idea of the 'habitus' - an internalized form of knowledge that people learn while growing up, that greatly assists them in understanding how to act/behave in all kinds of situations. The sociologist Pierre Bourdieu said that the habitus is fundamental for people to understand 'the rules of the game'. For example, it helps explain why some people have a preference for visual art while others do not. Clearly, many of the habitus' roots seem to lie in cognition - something which is very difficult to grasp using conventional sociological methods such as surveys or interviews. In this article we argue that adopting psychological methods (the Implicit Association Test) in particular, may help in understanding the habitus better and particularly its role in explaining various kinds of social inequalities.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Many sociological explanations for social inequalities (for example, based on race/ethnicity, gender or body size) lie in implicit rather than explicit knowledge. According to sociological theorizing, the habitus plays an essential role in this. Nevertheless, sociologists have not been able to 'measure' the habitus with conventional methods. To advance our knowledge on the role of the habitus in explaining social inequalities, it is crucial that such methods are understood, developed and developed.

Perspectives