tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8819453.post1459322154163153158..comments2023-10-24T04:18:08.409-05:00Comments on J880: Human geography and mass communication: Learning to Labor: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs, by Paul WillisGreg Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09154543464555817869noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8819453.post-76486563023622212682008-12-09T17:20:00.000-06:002008-12-09T17:20:00.000-06:00Thanks Chris. I read the book several years ago. ...Thanks Chris. I read the book several years ago. What stayed in my mind is how the mechanical clock/bell is used to regulate time and discipline behavior. Being in your seat as the bell rings is a form of conditioning congruent with punching a time-clock at the scheduled time.<BR/><BR/>Willis' Marxist approach can be complimented with the work of two social theorists of the same time period. Michel Foucault's book <I>Discipline and Punish</I> examines institutions such as schools, prisons, hospitals, and the military to suggest how subjectivity is produced within them through repetition and discipline. The spatial arrangement and control of bodies within these spaces lends itself to normalized behavior as well as deviant behavior (such as the kind exemplified by Willis' "lads" when they act out). French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu developed the notion of "habitus" to explain social reproduction, which basically describes the social context within which things are made to seem natural and agreeable. While it may seem strange that Willis' lads would choose manual labor over education, habitus offers a way to see how the tastes, dispositions, and cultural values practiced in daily life operate to maintain class identity.richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05411043241195707613noreply@blogger.com