In brief, habitus, as conceived by Pierre Bourdieu, is a culturally and structurally conditioned set of dispositions that shapes how one orients to the social world, including one’s perception of one’s life chances and corresponding styles of thought and behavior. Bourdieu theorized habitus to be a formative influence on how students from different social classes engage with the educational system and their subsequent levels of educational–and ultimately occupational and socioeconomic–attainment. Subsequent theory and research has suggested that gender differences in habitus may also help explain gender disparities in educational and occupational pathways. In this entry, the effects of habitus on quality of life are considered indirectly through its effects on educational achievement–which has many well-documented impacts on quality of life.
