Význam vlastníctva v procese tvorby domova
The Meaning of Property in the Process of Home-creating

Summary/Abstract: Home is not only a fulfilment of the primary human need to have a nest, but it is a part of the process of social identification of any individual. When creating home, many factors influence the decision-making process, from personal preferences, taste, ideal notions and social aspirations to broader social and economical factors. The creating of home as a consumption activity is socially aspirant, but not merely in Bourdieu’s sense of the accumulation of the cultural capital. According to Miller and Clarke, individual notions and ambitions, objectified through the objects of material world, actively interfere within the process (MILLER, 2001, CLARKE, 2001). However, the need to have a home can be satisfied only when the individual acquires the using rights for the dwelling. According to Hann, ownership as a bundle of rights and obligations in relation to things is embedded in various layers of society, hence it is socially and individually constructed (HANN, 1998). I assume, that in the layer of social practice it is a process to which the agents are taking various individualized positions to. The paper focuses on the analysis of the relationship between personal constructing of property and objectification of the individual through the process of home-creation. Is emotional ownership of the place (meaning relationship to home) influenced by the housing status of the individual (owner, renter, heir, ...)? How do these concepts relate to each other? The research project consists of analyses of in-depth qualitative interviews with a chosen research sample of young people living in Stockholm. In Sweden, housing is a very vital and highly political issue (ATTERHOG, 2006). Swedes put strong emphasis on the project of home-making – the statistics show that Swedes spend more money on home furnishing than other Europeans. Even the modernist idea of Swedish welfare state was in its origins anchored in the link between individual homes and “‘the greater‘ home of the state” as Löfgren puts it (LOFGREN, 1997). Bourdieu often defines his research sample through its sum of economical and cultural capital (according to the time spent in educational institutions). On the basis of analyzing a relatively homogenic sample (cca. 25 to 33 years old, living on their own, Bc. degree or higher, without children, currently in a relationship) I study the strategies and concepts laying behind the decision-making of respondents when acquiring their housing. Through the comparison of their stances I am analyzing whether these actions, in agreement with Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, are exclusively socially aspirant and relatively homogenic, or individualized through specific notions influencing their decision-making process. Furthermore, my research approach relies on the interviews with couples (talked to individually) – I want to study how these stances and notions are negotiated within their partnerships.

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