Abstract

In this article we want to evaluate the concept of ‘cultural omnivorousness’ that was coined by R.A. Peterson and has since been tested by sociologists all over the world, in Flanders as well (Vander Stichele & Laermans). It is said that omnivorousness is more suited to social reality as we know it than Bourdieu’s distinction-theory, with its homology of taste and social class; Bourdieu’s habitus concept is said to be useless for empirical research. The authors plead for a rereading of Bourdieu’s works, after an investigation of what critics believe to be the problem with the concept of habitus. Surprisingly it’s the habitus that can revive the research on omnivorousness, that has run dry because of its too formalist approach. After the first, theoretical part we conclude in the last paragraph with a short outline of two lines of research that both show that Bourdieu’s theory still has great critical explanatory power for the social reality in Flanders today.

How to Cite:

Zeedijk, J. & Smits, T., (2010) “Bourdieu, habitus en omnivoriteit”, Tijdschrift voor Sociologie 31(2), 110–135. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.86752