Reading, Habitus, and Social Representations in a University Context

The lack of reading habits among Mexican population is an idea based on national and international indicators, which illustrate the danger of this situation; however, these indicators fail to go deeper into the problem. This project was aimed to obtain more information about the habitus and social representations of college students reading habits, using as theoretical elements the principles developed by Pierre Bourdieu and Serge Moscovici. The project was developed in a public university, located in Mexico＇s northeast region; 19 students were part of the sample group. Two research tools were used to obtain data： survey and focus group. The project analyzed academic and environmental aspects, beyond the ＂ought to be＂, that affected the development and provided characteristics on the daily sociocultural reality of the students, with a view of the real environment of the students without ＂make-up＂. The project deepened into the analysis of the reading practices and not only the usual numeric indicators, which