“Homo suburbanus” : the habitus identifiers and consumption spaces (based on the material of Kaluga passenger flows)

Based on the concept of “habitus” by P. Bourdieu as a basic one, external identifiers of "non-urban" physicality are distinguished from the methodological positions of visual sociology. The main problem is to assess the proximity between different variants of the bodily appearance of citizens: the total mass of residents of the regional center (Kaluga), rural residents of settlements included in the suburban area of the regional center, residents of small towns located in the depths of the region. Based on the results of formalized observation of 225 passengers and visitors of various departments of a large shopping and entertainment center, hypotheses about the existence of habitable semiotic signs derived from socio-territorial and socio-economic status, allowing to distinguish residents of the “inner city” from visitors from the “hinterland”, which are manifested in the manner of dressing and in the arrange-ment of places of consumption, were previously confirmed. An uneven concentration of habitual signs of belonging to the lower urban class has been established among visitors from the district, suburbs, as well as among visitors to shopping departments designed to meet basic needs and visitors to departments designed to meet social and spiritual needs.

Keywords: habitus; lower urban class; consumption spaces; visual sociology; observation.