Habitus and Habitus Sensitivity in Higher Education

The term 'habitus' was coined by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and refers to the norms, values, and customs of different social classes (Bourdieu, 1987). According to Bourdieu, people learn the social conducts by following the example of their immediate social environment, adopting and habitualizing them (Grunau, 2017; Bourdieu and Passeron, 1971). These social conducts include, amongst other things, social conventions or customs, norms and values, one's behavior, one’s way of speaking and dressing, as well as the hobbies one practices – in other words, one’s general demeanor. This creates a repertoire of action patterns, which is applied – mostly unconsciously (Grunau, 2017; Thomas, 2002; Bourdieu and Passeron, 1971). This repertoire of action patterns is delimited by the so-called habitus which forms some kind of a frame for the scope of action (Grunau, 2017; Bourdieu and Passeron, 1971).

Higher education institutions typically presuppose a habitus by default, which is linked to desirable ways of speaking and writing as well as to certain behaviors. This habitus is primarily akin to that of academic families (Hewertson and Tissa, 2022; Maclean, 2022). Students from non-academic families usually do not meet these standards when they start their academic journey, as they have often acquired a different set of norms and behaviors – a different habitus – through their previous socialization (Hewertson and Tissa, 2022; Maclean, 2022). Thus, there may be a non-fit between one's own habitus and the social framework (Grunau, 2017; Bourdieu and Passeron, 1971). This often leads affected students to develop a sense of non-belonging or of being culturally and socially incompetent (Bargel and Bargel, 2010; Hewertson and Tissa, 2022). For this reason, affected students are even more likely to drop out of their studies (Thomas, 2002). Adapting to the university-specific habitus is certainly possible, but it is a long process that involves additional efforts (Thomas, 2002).

The goal of habitus-sensitive teaching is to establish sensitivity and reflection of one's own habitus in the interaction and relation between teachers and learners as a core component of university teaching (Schneickert, 2019). By doing so, so-called habitus-structure conflicts, i.e., a non-fit of the students' origin-specific habitus and the university-specific habitus, and the accompanying origin-related prejudices are to be prevented. This may provide a basis for taking students' individual (starting) conditions into account (Schneickert, 2019; Günther and Koeszegi, 2015; Rheinländer, 2015; El-Mafaalani, 2014; Schmitt, 2010).

Due to their status in relation to students, employees and teaching staff at universities have a higher degree of power (e.g. due to their assessment function). They should be aware of their position of power and the responsibility that comes with it and actively reflect on it. This is integral as their own habitus influences how they perceive their students and how they behave towards them. This in turn may lead to a discrimination of students with a deviating habitus – especially of students from a non-academic background. As a result, stereotypical, subconsicous attributions may arise due to which students whose habitus already largely corresponds to the university-specific habitus are perceived as particularly intelligent and educated, may it be due to their social background or previous adaptive achievements. In contrast, students with a deviating habitus, which is often evident in the university context in their way of speaking, on the other hand, are perceived as less intelligent or lazy. To prevent such stereotypical attributions and to ensure a fair and inclusive learning environment, teaching staff and employees should actively engage with their own habitus and reflect on how it shapes their interactions with students (Misamer and Thies, 2019).

For a structured reflection of your own habitus and how may shape your teaching and ways of thinking or acting, use these reflection prompts as a guide:

Reflection prompts regarding your personal educational biography:

• • What were my own starting conditions for my studies?
  • Did I have a role model (e.g. in my own family) to support my plans to study?
  • Did I receive support from my parents concerning my decision to study? What hurdles did I have to overcome on my own?
  • Have I myself experienced discrimination (e.g. due to my gender, nationality or social background) or preferential treatment during my studies/career/life? Of what kind?
  • Have I been able to focus exclusively on my studies? Did I have family obligations or did I have to finance my studies by myself through a part-time job?

Reflection prompts regarding your self-conception as a teacher:

• • How does my nationality, my gender, my age, or my personal lifestyle affect my role as a teacher?
  • What significance do these characteristics of my personality have for the students and their behavior?
  • To what extent do I see diversity as an enriching element for the learning process?
  • Is my expectation regarding the performance of individual students independent of gender, nationality, age, social background, etc.?
  • What stereotypical perceptions do I have toward my students or diverse groups and how did these come about?
  • Do I reproduce stereotypes in my teaching through my own behavior?

Reflection prompts regarding student diversity:

• • How diverse is my student group? To what extent is their diversity visible or invisible?
  • What value do I place on the heterogeneity of the students in my course?
  • Does the diversity of my students influence the design of my course?
  • Which impact does the diversity of the students have on my course/on the learning process?
  • What are possible hurdles for individual student groups arising from certain diversity factors?

Further readings: 
Bargel, H. & Bargel, T. (2010). Ungleichheiten und Benachteiligungen im Hochschulstudium aufgrund der sozialen Herkunft der Studierenden. Hans-Böckler-Stiftung.

Bourdieu, P. (1987). Reflexive Anthropologie. Suhrkamp.


Bourdieu, P. & Passeron, J.-C. (1971). Die Illusion der Chancengleichheit. Klett.

El-Mafaalani, A. (2014). Habitus-Struktur-Sensibilität – (Wie) kann ungleichheitssensible Schulpraxis gelingen? In T. Sander (Hrsg.), Habitussensibilität (S. 229-245). Springer VS. 

Grunau, J. (2017). Habitus und Studium. Springer VS. 

Günther, E. A. & Koeszegi, S. T. (2015). „Das ist aber nicht der akademische Gedanke“ – Ansprüche an Lehrende und von Lehrenden einer Technischen Universität. In K. Rheinländer (Hrsg.), Ungleichheitssensible Hochschullehre (S. 141-163). Springer VS. 

Hewertson, H. & Tissa, F. (2022). Intersectional Imposter Syndrome: How Imposterism Affects Marginalised Groups. In M. Addison, M. Breeze, & Y. Taylor (Hrsg.), The Palgrave Handbook of Imposter Syndrome in Higher Education (S. 19-36). Springer International.  

Maclean, C. (2022). Rise with Your Class, not Out of Your Class: Auto-Ethnographic Reflections on Imposter Syndrome and Class Conflict in Higher Education. In M. Addison, M. Breeze, & Y. Taylor (Hrsg.), The Palgrave Handbook of Imposter Syndrome in Higher Education (S. 159-172). Springer International. 

Misamer, M. & Thies, B. (2019). Macht- und statussensible Hochschullehre. In D. Kergel & B. Heidkamp (Hrsg.), Praxishandbuch Habitussensibilität und Diversität in der Hochschullehre (S. 497-514). Springer VS. 

Rheinländer, K. (2015). Von der Bedeutung und der Möglichkeit einer ungleichheitssensiblen Hochschullehre. In K. Rheinländer (Hrsg.), Ungleichheitssensible Hochschullehre (S. 47-69). Springer VS. 

Schmitt, L. (2010). Bestellt und nicht abgeholt – Soziale Ungleichheit und Habitus-Struktur- Konflikte im Studium. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. 

Schneickert, C. (2019). Die Bildungsexpansion und die Beschäftigungssituation des akademischen Mittelbaus als Herausforderungen habitussensibler Hochschullehre. In D. Kergel & B. Heidkamp (Hrsg.), Praxishandbuch Habitussensibilität und Diversität in der Hochschullehre (S. 83-105). Springer VS. 

Thomas, L. (2002). Student retention in higher education: the role of institutional habitus. Journal of Education Policy, 17(4), 423-442.