SEXUAL ORIENTATION AS SYMBOLIC CAPITAL AND AS THE “OBJECT” OF SYMBOLIC VIOLENCE

Sexual orientation is currently understood to be an innate disposition. Heterosexually oriented people are perceived to be in the majority and homosexually oriented people as the minority. Using Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of symbolic power, symbolic violence and symbolic capital, this paper aims to show how symbolic power and symbolic violence contribute to determining which sexual orientation is associated with the majority and minority populations, and establish what role is played by the symbolic capital derived from sexual orientation.