Forms of bodily capital: analysis of sociological concepts

Abstract

The review article is devoted to the analysis of the position of corporeality in the concepts interpreting and developing the classification of forms of capital by P. Bourdieu, who considered corporeal capital only as a kind of cultural capital. The work of researchers is analyzed (K. Hakim, D. Hutson), who propose to consider corporeality (in its various manifestations) as the fourth form of capital along with the three already established forms. New concepts related to corporeality, created in line with the Bourdieusian theory of capital, and designed to describe additional grounds for the emergence of hierarchies in modern societies, are considered. The author associates himself with those researchers who believe that today physicality can be considered as an independent form of capital, since it itself affects the position of an individual within various social fields. According to the author, such concepts as physical, sexual/erotic capital, gender and aesthetic capital can take the place of independent forms of bodily capital. The two most important aspects of the functioning of bodily capital are its accumulation and conversion. The latter is carried out on two levels, firstly, the innate and acquired properties of the body are transformed into other forms of capital — economic, cultural, social. Secondly, the conversion processes take place between the forms of the bodily capital itself. Bodily capital, like any form of capital, cannot be completely devoid of the potential for alienation, however, attention to various aspects of corporeality, even from the point of view of their capitalization, becomes in the era of digitalization a form of spontaneous resistance to the dictates of algorithmic rationality.