Varun Ravikumar

Social constructivist accounts purport to examine the individual from the standpoint of society. However, Zahavi argues that such accounts are incapable of explaining the ‘mineness’ character of experience. In this paper, I respond to Zahavi by presenting a social constructivist account that utilizes Bourdieu's concept of ‘habitus' to capture the first-person character of social subjects' practical experiences. I offer a Bourdieusian social constructivist account as an alternative to Zahavi’s Husserlian account for explaining social subjectivity.

Social constructivist accounts purport to examine the individual from the standpoint of society. However, Zahavi argues that such accounts are incapable of explaining the ‘mineness’ character of experience. In this paper, by using Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, I respond to Zahavi by offering a Bourdieusian social constructivist account that captures the ‘mineness’ of the practical experiences of social subjects inhabiting social habitats. Bourdieu’s account, I conclude, offers an important theoretical resource for philosophers to better grasp the social-individual relationship.