Taste of class, the class body

Pierre Bourdieu, La Distinction, Editions de Minuit, 1979, p 210

“The taste in food also depends on the idea that each class is of the body and of the effects of food on the body, that is to say, on its strength, its health and its beauty, and of the categories it uses to evaluate these effects, some of them may be retained by a class that are ignored by another, and the different classes that can build hierarchies very different between the various effects : it is as well as where the popular classes, more attentive to the strength of the body (masculine) than to its shape, tend to look for products both cheap and nutritious, the professions will give their preference to products that are tasty, good for health, lightweight, and does not grow. Culture become nature, that is to say, incorporated, made class body, the taste contributes to the body of the class: the principle of classification a built-in command of all forms of incorporation, it selects and modifies everything that the body ingests, digests, assimilates, physiologically and psychologically. It follows that the body is the objectification of the more compelling of the taste of the class, which it manifests in several ways. First in this, that it was more natural in appearance, that is to say, in the dimensions (volume, height, weight, etc) and shapes (round or square, stiff or supple, straight or curved, etc) its conformation is visible, which is expressed in a thousand ways a whole relation to the body, that is to say, a way to treat the body, heal it, feed it, maintain it, which is indicative of the most profound of the habitus : it is in effect through the consumption preferences of food which may be perpetuated beyond their social conditions of production (as in other areas, an accent, an approach, etc), and also, of course, through the uses of the body in work and in leisure activities that are supportive, that determines the distribution between the classes of properties and equipment. “

Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel.

Back To Top