The lesser of two evils: approaching trust with Bourdieu’s habitus

Abstract

In this paper I borrow from sociological scholars and theories in order to approach trust(ing) with Bourdieu's habitus. I demonstrate the use of a conceptual framework comprised of three sociological theories in the context of a subset of women in urbanising Türkiye who belong to, what I call, a gecekondu habitus. Throughout this paper I discuss the necessity of viewing interpersonal trust in the context of lived experiences, which enables us to see the nuanced ways trust might express itself in unexpected ways. Specifically, I suggest that utilising Bourdieu's habitus is one way to centre and situate context in trust research. By using Bourdieu's habitus along with theories of social reproduction and social capital I position my study on interpersonal trust in context, elucidate the gecekondu habitus, and with empirical examples illuminate nuances of trust and vulnerability noting its embeddedness in social networks. Ultimately in this paper I show how layering sociological theories as lenses highlights a nuanced view of trusting for women that expresses itself in two ways: (1) trust as choosing between vulnerabilities in difficult choices; and (2) the process of trusting (in assessing trustworthiness) functioning similarly to social capital a la Bourdieu and Coleman.