Bourdieu 's Concept Of Cultural Capital

One of the major causes of underachievement is the lack of economic capital, proposed by Pierre Bourdieu (1984), that a working class family possess. As item A states, ‘sociologists claim that factors outside the school, such as parental attitudes and parental income, are the main causes of working class underachievement.’ Children who belong to a working class background may not be able to afford the necessary equipment or meet the

Several sociological perspectives can be used to explain cultural challenges. On eof these sociological perspectives are functionalism. This theory looks at education as a means through which the following functions are achieved in the society: socialization, social placement and integration, social and cultural innovation. Cultural challenges however, hinder the effectiveness of this perspective’s role of education in society (MacNeil, Prater & Busch, 2009). If these challenges are not addressed and possible solutions implemented then the 'foreign students' will not fully benefit from the advantages of

Although the family is the primary field in which a child gains cultural capital, Bourdieu claimed that this becomes institutionalized in the education system. When evaluating educational capital, he explains that it is not simply a result of schooling, but states that “academic capital is in fact the guaranteed product of the combined effects of cultural transmission by the family ad cultural transmission by the school (the efficiency of which depends on the amount of cultural capital directly inherited from the family).” (Bourdieu, 1996, p. 23). In addition, Bourdieu pointed out that although schools claim to be meritocratic institutions that judge based on individual aptitudes, they are actually duplicating social stratification by basing rewards on cultural capital and hereditary privileges. In this way, the education system is unfair because it duplicates existing social

Bourdieu defines cultural capital as "the general background, knowledge, disposition, and skill that are passed from one generation to the next" (13), and he affirms that children from different classes inherit different cultural capital. Bourdieu suggests that the cultural capital that upper class children

Whether you may know it or not, we will all possess some type of capital in our lives. Capital is everywhere, and is a wide-ranging idea that is beneficial to a society and people alike. There are many types of capital; however, Cultural capital and Social capital are two common types of capital that have been studied by Sociologists for decades. Cultural capital refers to non-economic things like skills and arts, and social capital refers the benefits of social networks.

Specifically, wealthy individuals have access to quality education, healthcare, social networks and various other advantages denied to those with low financial capital. Among those advantages is cultural capital. According to the text, in opposition to their more affluent counterparts, “working-class mothers and fathers are more inclined simply to provide directives, [and are] less likely to consider conversation with children as a learning opportunity (349).” A more nurturing parenting style gives children a chance to understand the importance of confidence and expressing themselves, both valuable forms of cultural capital. Cultural capital often not provided by less affluent individuals due to “the financial and psychological stress of poverty (349).”

Second, Williams introduces other works in order to explain how social and economic class affects the academic discourse. For example, he directly quotes J.P. Gee, who says “Children cannot belong at school when their valuable home-based practices [the dominant discourses]...are ignored, denigrated, and unused” (Gee 344). In other words, schools must implement social values into the academic discourses. Additionally, Williams mentions Bourdieu's approach of the term habitus, which Bourdieu describes as “the internalized form of class condition and of the conditionings it entails” (Bordeau 345). Essentially, Bourdieu believes “cultural and social capital cannot be separated from economic and material conditions” (Bourdieu 345). Therefore, by

The concept of capital, neither symbolic or cultural in specifics, is this idea that continues the cycle of power relations in society. According to Bourdieu, “it is in fact impossible to account for the structure and functioning of the social world unless one reintroduces capital in all its forms and not solely in the one form recognized by economic theory” (Bourdieu 2006:105-6). Usually the term capital refers to monetary exchanges, Bourdieu is explaining that capital takes different forms to produce an overall entity with power or capital. Like Karl Marx, Bourdieu argued that capital formed the foundation of social life and dictated one’s position within the social order. For Bourdieu and Marx both, the more capital one has the more powerful a position one has in the power relations of social life. However, Bourdieu extended Marx’s idea of capital beyond the economic sphere and into the more symbolic realm of culture. It is important to understand the difference between cultural and symbolic capital. Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital refers to the collection of symbolic elements such as skills, tastes,

Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher who is known for his cultural capital theory as well as his concept of symbolic violence. Much of his work focused on the dynamics of power in society, and he views power as being culturally and symbolically created, constantly being “re-legitimized through structure and agency”. The main way this happens is through what he calls habitus or tendencies that guide behaviors and thinking, which refer to the physical embodiment of cultural capital. The concept of cultural capital was created by Bourdieu to acknowledge his belief that capital forms the foundation of one’s social life and dictates the position they hold or their social status in society. According to Bourdieu

Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital has been extremely influential, and has garnered a great deal of literature, both theoretical and empirical. Like Marx, Bourdieu posited that capital was the foundation of social life and dictated people’s position within the social hierarchy (Bourdieu 1986). According to Bourdieu, the more capital one possesses, the more prestigious a position one occupies in social life (Bourdieu 1986). In addition to that, Bourdieu extended Marx’s idea of capital beyond the economic and into cultural symbolism (Bourdieu 1986). Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital that refers to the collection of symbolic elements (e.g. skills, tastes, clothing) one acquires through being part of a particular social niche and his concept of habitus that refers to the physical manifestation of cultural capital owned by individuals due to life experiences are his major influential concepts that are very useful in deconstructing power in development and social change processes. However it must be recognized that these concepts also propagate social inequalities at the same time. This essay will closely examine his concepts of capital that comes in three forms - embodied, objectified, and institutionalised, and habitus in the fields of education and stratification have made of it. Bourdieu’s work will be analysed in the context both of the debate on class inequalities in educational attainment and of class reproduction in advanced capitalist societies.

Bourdieu theorizes the real social conflict is between the upper class and the Petite bougie e.g. a struggle over categories of representation and battles over classifications or fields. Bourdieu says intellectuals a source of ruling class ideologies, “i.e. (illusion of class about itself),” Due to their focus on education of themselves and their children, and striving to become the part of the upper class. Bourdieu sees the possibility of the pretentious Petite Bougie affecting what he calls a “symbolic revolution” that could re -shape the structures of the social order. [If the upper class ever stopped changing the game to maintain their prestige. In contrast, Bourdieu says the habitus of doesn't easily transfer to higher education thus the working classes or lower classes are driven by necessity to forego an education thus chose to work out of necessity thus they have no economic recourse to reject or effect dominant culture. Bourdieu says the working class is a culture with no stake in the game. (Bourdieu 1984 [1979]: chapter 7). Thus the working class has no stake in the social

Pierre Bourdieu was interested in how elites reproduced themselves from one generation to the next. High-status culture emphasizes classical art, music, dance, etc. Bourdieu defined high cultural knowledge that ultimately redounds to the social advantage . To make his words strong enough I made my own research in one of the classical example that can prove the cultural gap between population of people in different society level.

Pierre Bourdieu developed the concept of cultural capital in order to attempt to explain the differences in educational outcomes in France during the 1960’s. Cultural capital is theorised as the forms of knowledge, skill, education; any advantages a person has which, give them a higher status in society, including high expectations (Nick Stevenson, 1995.pp.46-48). This differentiates economic and social status from the class agenda which, is rigidly sustained through an exclusive cycle. Cultural capital itself can be used in analysis of the class system, and how the dominant aesthetic and ideology is sustained from generation to generation.

Cultural capital is an idea that was used by Bordieu to contribute to his explanation of inequality in social settings (Zepke & Leach, 2007). It comprises the “norms, values and practices of a society” (Zepke & Leach, 2007, p.657). “Cultural capital includes cultural resources and activities that are expressed in the relationships between parents and children” (Tramonte & Willms, 2010, p.203). This results in cultural capital being different in different social settings. This can create inequality because of the difference in values, knowledge and skills that individuals can bring to a certain environment. One issue can be the conflict between teacher and student because of their cultural capital and can result in unequal educational outcomes because the cultural capital of others is valued higher than other students.

Pierre Bourdieu is a French Theorist. Bourdieu’s theory is to emphasize constructivist structuralism and he was influenced by Karl Marx by cultural capital. Bourdieu presents the question of class. Bourdieu claimed that capital forms the foundation of social life. Bourdieu thinks the more capital a person have, the more powerful they will be, and Marx had the same view as well. Bourdieu went on to claim that it had something to do with the symbolic realm of culture. When Bourdieu brings culture into it he means the peoples attribute to the world, structured by inequality and culture structures of inequality, also states that is a big part of social inequality. Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital is skills, tastes, posture, clothing, mannerisms, material belongings, credentials, etc. You usually receive them through a social class. Bourdieu divides capital into three forms embodied, objectified, and institutionalized. He gives an example of embodied cultural capital, while a luxury car is an example of cultural capital in its objectified state. In its institutionalized state cultural capital would be credentials and qualifications (degrees or titles that shows cultural authority and acceptance.