Young Peoples? Perceptions of Housing Tenure: A Case Study in the Socialization of Tenure Prejudice

Debates about the significance of housing tenure are well established within housing studies, but have tended to rely heavily upon economic and political dimensions of consumption. Hitherto, the perceptions of young people have been politically, if not economically, ignored. This article makes a contribution to the housing tenure debate that stresses the cultural dimension of consumption. In particular, it uses Bourdieu?s idea of ?habitus? and Bauman?s notion of ?the flawed consumer? to provide a new perspective on the debate. Drawing on data from qualitative interviews with a small sample of young people, the article considers young peoples? perceptions of housing tenure. It assesses how their tenure prejudice ? positive images of home ownership and negative images of council housing ? are the product of a housing socialization process and considers the ways in which prevailing attitudes towards housing tenure have been transmitted to a future generation of housing consumers. It uses the work of Bourdieu to consider how and why such socialization has taken place and Bauman?s work on consumption to analyse these trends. Finally, the article considers the theoretical implications and policy relevance of the results presented, considering the need for housing education amongst UK school children and the sustainability of some plans for an urban renaissance.