The concept of habitus was created by french sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and essentially says that the way the young elite are raised is designed to maintain the status quo. A large part of social (and often professional) advancement requires understanding how those in power preserve the social hierarchy. While Bourdieu argues that habitus is establish by your socioeconomic class during your formative years, I believe there’s still major benefits to understanding social prestige when it comes to engineering your own advancement.
Bourdieu’s theory of capital states that there’s four major currencies by which status is measured: social capital, economic capital, cultural capital, and symbolic capital. In simpler terms, the elements are your network, wealth, taste, and reputation.
Social capital - this is measured by your network and how many (as well as the type of) people who would pick up the phone if you need a favor. You do not have to be the stereotypical social butterfly to succeed here, the depth of the relationship is just as valuable as the breadth. Professionally, this is extremely important because a recommendation from someone trusted can make the difference between being offered a job and being overlooked by an increasingly AI-heavy review system.
- How to improve: the best way to start building a network is to just open the conversation with people. Not everyone will always be receptive to you, but the pros of building new relationships will vastly outweigh the cons of occasional rejection. For a while I really struggled with loneliness after Covid, and some advice that really changed by life was (1) if you want a village you need to be a villager. This means proactive reaching out to people and offering to help them even when they didn’t ask you to. For example, if your friend needs a ride to the airport offer to drive. Yes, it might be only $20 for an Uber, but you’re not going to build deeper relationships by outsourcing tasks that used to be done by friends in past generations. The second bit of advice was to (2) throw the types of parties you would want to be invited to. If you feel left out the best way to start a community is by being the one to bring people together. An added benefit of becoming a host is that your guests will all expand their networks by meeting each other and overtime your home will become known as a social hub.
Economic capital - this is the most straightforward and easiest to understand. It sum of all of the assets you own. Monetary wealth is often used as a tool to gain access to the more elusive forms of capital.
- How to improve: While this one is straightforward, it often takes the longest to achieve. The goal here should be to create a sustainable routine for growth and spending less than you make each month. This means learning budgeting skills, basic investing, and paying down your high interest debt. A baseline for financial security is often 3x’s your average monthly spend kept in a high yield savings account and budgeting according to the 50/30/20 Rule (which is spending 50% of your after tax income on essentials like food, housing, and transportation, 30% on wants, and 20% towards investments and savings). If you’re new to this, start with the FAQ on [r/personalfinance](r/personalfinance).
Cultural capital - this can be summed up as your knowledge, skills, and behavior when it comes to taste. Elite families raise their children to understand and practice these protocols from a young age to the point where it becomes second nature (for example, knowing proper dining etiquette, understanding how to pair wine and food, speaking another language, and having thoughtful opinions on art and literature). However, even as an adult you can still refine your taste and expand your exposure to more worldly concepts.
- How to improve: taste is an amorphous and culturally dependent concept so the first step is to define your opinion on what it means to be refined. For some people, refinement is going to mean experiential expansions like travel, learning a new instrument, picking up an aspirational hobby or sport, or joining a local language learning group. For others, it may mean developing a personal curriculum of learning about cooking, art, and hosting. Taste can also be developed through institutionalized means, such as through formal education. For this I would recommend taking free online classes, such as the one offered by Harvard. Lastly, taste can be communicated through possessions, such as a record collection, a fashion, or original art. However, if you have yet to secure economic capital you’re better off beginning with means that require a lower financial barrier to entry.
Symbolic capital - this is the value of your reputation, which is undoubtedly the most important. This capital can also be increased through formal means such as winning an award, having your work published, being recognized for top athletic skill, acquiring a prestigious degree, or otherwise being externally validated for skill-based excellence. Symbolic capital goes beyond the other three and acts as justification for an elevated status.
- How to improve: While you may also want to focus on goal-based credentials, it is easier to begin by working on the less formal parts of your reputation. You can start by practicing class as a verb. In order to be respected you needed to act like someone who is respectable. This means doing the inner work to speak up for yourself, holding yourself with confidence, having healthy boundaries, and upholding a consistent ethical code. The most important way to protect your reputation is to only speak and act in a way that you would be okay being publicized. The worst thing you can do for your reputation is be seen as someone who is dishonest or unkind (this includes the little things too, like gossiping behind someone’s back). As a final tip, you should always respect your own privacy by avoiding oversharing in person and on your social media.
In summary, the four capitals are manifestations of social conditioning initially, but I believe we all have enough individual agency to make incremental change to increase your social standing. Lastly, note that some Bourdieu critics argue that there are additional forms of capital, such as emotional capital. I would also argue that physical appearance and perceived health also act as another form of capital, but that’s already discussed extensively here in other posts.