“Homeness” in the Sense of Pierre Bourdieu
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Abstract
This study probes the meaning of “homeness,” challenging reductionist views of the home as merely a physical structure. Guided by Pierre Bourdieu, the research illuminates the connections among the domestic sphere, personal identity, lifestyles, and the surrounding social and cultural fabric. The central question is how “homeness” can be understood as a socially situated space of reproduction under socially structural conditions. Qualitative document analysis of Bourdieu and scholars extending his concepts was employed to frame the home as a site of practice in which habitus and multiple forms of capital are enacted and negotiated dynamically. The findings indicate that “homeness” emerges from symbolic practice, where the habitus shapes the transformation of homes into spaces of identity and belonging. The home functions as an expression of cultural and social capital via decoration and taste, reflecting class distinctions. Habitation transcends personal experience, operating as a construction linked to power and the reproduction of social structures and meanings at both the micro and macro levels. Moreover, this study engages with critiques and extensions of Bourdieu’s framework, including the tendency to underemphasize the affective and mnemonic dimensions of dwelling, and the ways in which migration and contemporary social contexts reconfigure home as a site of identity negotiation.
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