Ever since I started tutoring with an after school program through PBHA I've started to realize that the traits associated with class starts at a young age. The kids that I teach are elementary school students who all live in the same lower class neighborhood neighborhood. Their attitude, the way they talk, and the way they dress screams lower class. At such a young age, where did this class culture develop from? The obvious answer is none other than their own family.
As Bourdieu's idea of habitus goes, "Habitus is a 'structured structure' that derives from class specific experiences of socialization in family and peer groups" (Swartz 102). It is hard to break out of these habitus that one is surrounded by growing up. The chances of these kids breaking their habits and changing the way they talk after years of exposure to slang and a lower class culture, it is most likely impossible for them to act otherwise. Habitus is resistant to change, so does this mean that these kids are destined for a future in the lower end of the social ladder? Hopefully, things will one day change for these kids and they will meet someone or some circumstance that will help them break their habitus. Although it is resistant to change, it does not mean that it won't happen.
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