Sustaining Waste – Sociological Perspectives on Recycling a Hybrid Object - Implementing Environmental and Resource Management - page 295

Reflexivity allows the distancing of oneself from habitus. Habitus is most con-
straining when the actor is not acting consciously 29 . Enlightening reflexivity can
thus help to change how one is influenced by dispositions. This means that
Bourdieu conceptualises action as neither mechanistic reaction nor deliberate, free
and rationally planned moves. The field influences our moves and at the same
time we influence the field. An actor can emancipate themselves through reflec-
tion and changing their practices. Nevertheless, this subjective acting is societal
and therefore unlikely to easily change.
Relevant to the patterning of our perception, then, is Bourdieu's idea that the
field configures the habitus. The habitus then, helps to understand and create the
field as a meaningful world in which investing is worthwhile. The world is shaped
by human actors and thus, the social world exists both as habitus and field as well
as in things, bodies and minds both within and external of actors. The social world
becomes part of the actor and produces the categories which the actor uses to un-
derstand the world and therefore the world seems self-evident to the actor. This is
relevant in two respects: First, all interactions are also power-relations and if
power-relations are not recognised we will be unconscious accomplices in actual-
ising theses relations. Second, if our perception of the world is never all encom-
passing but relative to our position, which makes us take at least parts of the world
as self-evident - a doxic stance, then one cannot speak of the actor as using strate-
gies referring to purely intentionally and rationally acting. Bourdieu uses the con-
cept 'strategy' to refer to practice which makes sense, thus is reasonable or ra-
tional, in certain constellations of the field 30 . Habitus explains why people are not
necessarily stupid although they do not make conscious plans all the time. The
habitus is a conditioning to deal with the situations which the agent is likely to
meet. The concept helps to explain why dispositions/tastes are so durable.
To illustrate, let us visit Julian's work place, get an idea about what he was do-
ing and how he talked about his work: In the beginning he told me about a meet-
ing he would have later the day, “[t]he rest of the time [he] would be phoning and
responding to emails” 31 . And in fact, he called a number of actors, looked up con-
tact information on his computer (e.g. visiting a governmental website). Several
times he got in touch with authorities. One time he let an official know that his
“job is contingent on having 'these things in place' 32 ”. In this situation he referred
to the environmental management system of the university.
29 This implies that actors can act more or less consciously. The less conscious an actor is
of her actions, contexts, her habitus and the field structure, the more grip the habitus has
on her (acts).
30 Some might wonder how Bourdieu conceptualises reason. For him, the economy of prac-
tices relates to any kinds of ends and functions. Practices can serve these functions or
meet these ends without being consciously reasoned; nevertheless they can be reason-
able.
31 From a fieldnote
32 Quote from Julian