Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Sociology
Portal
Theory History
Positivism Antipositivism
Functionalism Conflict theory
Middle-range Mathematical
Critical theory Socialization
Structure and agency
Research methods
Quantitative Qualitative
Historical Computational
Ethnographic
Topics Subfields
Cities Class Crime Culture
Deviance Demography Education
Economy Environment Family
Gender Health Industry Internet
Knowledge Law Medicine
Politics Mobility Race and ethnicity
Rationalization Religion Science
Secularization Social networks
This article is about the sociological term. For European locations, see European Capital of
Culture.
The term cultural capital refers to non-financial social assets; they may be educational or
intellectual, which might promote social mobility beyond economic means.
Cultural capital (French: le capital culturel) is a sociological concept that has gained widespread
popularity since it was first articulated by Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron
first used the term in "Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction" (1973). In this work he
attempted to explain differences in children's outcomes in France during the 1960s. It has since
been elaborated and developed in terms of other types of capital in The Forms of Capital (1986);
and in terms of higher education, for instance, in The State Nobility (1996). For Bourdieu, capital
acts as a social relation within a system of exchange, and the term is extended to all the goods
material and symbolic, without distinction, that present themselves as rare and worthy of being
sought after in a particular social formation (cited in Harker, 1990:13) and cultural capital acts as
a social relation within a system of exchange that includes the accumulated cultural knowledge
that confers power and status.[1]
Contents
[hide]
2 Types
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 Further reading
Cultural capital: forms of knowledge, skills, education, and advantages that a person
has, which give them a higher status in society. Parents provide their children with
cultural capital by transmitting the attitudes and knowledge needed to succeed in the
current educational system.
Later he adds symbolic capital (resources available to an individual on the basis of honor,
prestige or recognition) to this list.
[edit] Types
Cultural capital has three subtypes: embodied, objectified and institutionalised (Bourdieu,
1986:47). Bourdieu distinguishes between these three types of capital:
Embodied cultural capital consists of both the consciously acquired and the passively
"inherited" properties of one's self (with "inherit[ance]" here used not in the genetic sense
but in the sense of receipt over time, usually from the family through socialization, of
culture and traditions). Cultural capital is not transmissible instantaneously like a gift or
bequest; rather, it is acquired over time as it impresses itself upon one's habitus (character
and way of thinking), which in turn becomes more attentive to or primed to receive
similar influences.
o Linguistic capital, defined as the mastery of and relation to language (Bourdieu,
1990:114), can be understood as a form of embodied cultural capital in that it
represents a means of communication and self-presentation acquired from one's
surrounding culture.
Objectified cultural capital consists of physical objects that are owned, such as scientific
instruments or works of art. These cultural goods can be transmitted both for economic
profit (as by buying and selling them with regard only to others' willingness to pay) and
for the purpose of "symbolically" conveying the cultural capital whose acquisition they
facilitate. However, while one can possess objectified cultural capital by owning a
painting, one can "consume" the painting (understand its cultural meaning) only if one
has the proper foundation of conceptually and/or historically prior cultural capital, whose
transmission does not accompany the sale of the painting (except coincidentally and
through independent causation, such as when a vendor or broker chooses to explain the
painting's significance to the prospective buyer).
2005:222), in their daily interactions (Gorder, 1980:226) and it changes as the individuals
position within a field changes (Harker, 1990:11).
elaboration of Bourdieus theory. Similarly, Dumais (2002) introduces the variable of gender to
determine the ability of cultural capital to increase educational achievement. The author shows
how gender and social class interact to produce different benefits from cultural capital. In fact in
Distinction (1984:107), Bourdieu states sexual properties are as inseparable from class
properties as the yellowness of lemons is inseparable from its acidity. He simply did not
articulate the differences attributable to gender in his general theory of reproduction in the
education system. What allows a certain thing to exist, or not exist....that is the question.
On the other hand, two authors have introduced new variables into Bourdieus concept of
cultural capital. Emmison & Frows (1998) work centers on an exploration of the ability of
Information Technology to be considered a form of cultural capital. The authors state that a
familiarity with, and a positive disposition towards the use of bourgeoisie technologies of the
information age can be seen as an additional form of cultural capital bestowing advantage on
those families that possess them. Specifically computers are machines (Bourdieu, 1986:47)
that form a type of objectified cultural capital, and the ability to use them is an embodied type of
cultural capital. This work is useful because it shows the ways in which Bourdieus concept of
cultural capital can be expanded and updated to include cultural goods and practices which are
progressively more important in determining achievement both in the school and without.
Hage uses Bourdieus theory of cultural capital to explore multiculturalism and racism in
Australia. His discussion around race is distinct from Bourdieus treatment of migrants and their
amount of linguistic capital and habitus. Hage actually conceives of whiteness (in Dolby,
2000:49) as being a form of cultural capital. White is not a stable, biologically determined trait,
but a shifting set of social practices (Dolby, 2000:49). He conceptualizes the nation as a
circular field, with the hierarchy moving from the powerful center (composed of white
Australians) to the less powerful periphery (composed of the others). The others however are
not simply dominated, but are forced to compete with each other for a place closer to the centre.
This use of Bourdieus notion of capital and fields is extremely illuminating to understand how
people of non-Anglo ethnicities may try and exchange the cultural capital of their ethnic
background with that of whiteness to gain a higher position in the hierarchy. It is especially
useful to see it in these terms as it exposes the arbitrary nature of what is Australian, and how
it is determined by those in the dominant position (mainly white Australians).
John Taylor Gatto writes a piece in Harper's issue in 2003, Against School. Gatto addresses
issues over education in modern schooling as a retired school teacher. The relation of cultural
capital can be linked to Alexander Inglis's 1918 book, Principles of Secondary Education, which
makes clear how modern American schooling is now what it had been for Prussia in the 1820's.
The objective was to divide children into sections by distributing children into subjects by age
groups and common test scores. Inglis introduces six basic functions for modern schooling.
Functions three four and five are most related to cultural capitol because they describe the
manner in which schooling enforces childrens' cultural capital from a young age. Bellow are
functions three to five from Gatto's issue: "3. The diagnostic and directive function. School is
meant to determine each student's proper social role. This is done by logging evidence
mathematically and anecdotally on cumulative records. 4. The differentiating function. Once
their social role has been "diagnosed," children are to be sorted by role and trained only as far as
their destination in the social machine merits-- and not one step further. So much for making kids
heir personal best. 5. The selective function. This refers not to human choice at all but to
Darwin's theory of natural selection as applied to what he called "the favored races." In short, the
idea is to help things along by consciously attempt to improve the breeding stock. Schools are
meant to tag the unfit-- with poor grades, remedial placement, and other punishments clearly
enough that their peers will accept them as inferior and effectively bar them from the
reproductive sweepstakes. That's what all those little humiliations from first grade onward were
intended to do: "it was the dirt down the drain." These three functions are directly related to
cultural capital because through schooling children are discriminated by social class and
cognitively placed into the destination that will make them fit to sustain that social role as they
grow. They will be lead down the path into the class they will belong to and during the fifth
function will be directly undesirable to the more privileged set of children and be even
furthermore pushed down the ladder.
Pierre Bourdieu
Social capital
Cultural studies
Culture change
Cultural economics
Human capital
Individual capital
Academic capital
[edit] Notes
1.
^ http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0761973419&id=ACA5uF2PlMC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=%22cultural+capital%22&sig=Q4zsnh-3tlJGwSFMJGc2kA3KKI
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
[edit] References
De Graaf, N., De Graaf, P., & Kraaykamp, G., (2000) Parental cultural capital and
educational attainment in the Netherlands: a refinement of the cultural capital
perspective in Sociology of Education, v.73, i.2, pp.9211
Dumais, S., (2002) Cultural Capital, Gender, and School Success: the role of habitus in
Sociology of Education, v.75, i.1, pp.4468
Emirbayer, M., & Williams, E., (2005) Bourdieu and Social Work in Social Service
Review, v.79, i.4 p689-725
Emmison, M., & Frow, J., (1998) Information Technology as Cultural Capital in
Australian Universities Review, Issue 1/1998, p.41-45
Harker, R., (1990) Education and Cultural Capital in Harker, R., Mahar, C., & Wilkes,
C., (eds) (1990) An Introduction to the Work of Pierre Bourdieu: the practice of theory,
Macmillan Press, London
Kalmijn, M., & Kraaykamp, G., (1996) Race, cultural capital, and schooling: An
analysis of trends in the United States in Sociology of Education, v.69, i.1, pp.2234
King, A., Structure and Agency in Harrington, A., (ed) (2005) Modern Social Theory:
an introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp.215232
Kingston, P., (2001) The Unfulfilled Promise of Cultural Capital Theory in Sociology
of Education, Extra Issue, pp.8899
Martin, B., & Szelenyi, I., (1987) Beyond Cultural Capital: toward a theory of symbolic
domination in Robbins, D., (ed) (2000) Pierre Bourdieu Volume I, Sage Publications,
London, pp.278302
Robbins, D., (1991) The Work of Pierre Bourdieu: recognising society, Open University
Press, Buckingham
Robinson, R., & Garnier, M., (1986) Class Reproduction among Men and Women in
France: reproduction theory on its home ground in Robbins, D., (ed) (2000) Pierre
Bourdieu Volume I, Sage Publications, London, pp.144153
Stanton-Salazar, R., & Dornbusch, S., (1995) Social Capital and the Reproduction of
Inequality: information networks among Mexican-origin high school students in
Sociology of Education (Albany), v.68, i.2
Sullivan, A. 2002. Bourdieu and Education: How Useful is Bourdieus Theory for
Researchers? Netherlands Journal of Social Sciences. 38(2) 144-166.
Sullivan, A. 2001. Cultural Capital and Educational Attainment Sociology. 35(4) 893912.
Webb, J., Schirato, T. & Danaher, G., (2002) Understanding Bourdieu, Sage Publications,
London
The Forms of Capital: English version published 1986 in J.G. Richardson's Handbook for
Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, pp. 241258.
o First published 1983 in German as konomisches Kapital - Kulturelles Kapital Soziales Kapital in Soziale Ungleichheiten, edited by Reinhard Kreckel, pp. 183
198.
Swartz,David (1998), Culture and Power: The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu, University
of Chicago Press ISBN 0226785955
Fowler,Bridget (1997), Pierre Bourdieu and Cultural Theory, Sage Publications Inc,
ISBN 0803976267
Marxist analytical
Marxist historical
Monopoly
Sociology
Capital
Cultural studies
Community building
Article
Discussion
Read
Edit
View history
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact Wikipedia
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages
Catal
esky
Deutsch
Espaol
Franais
Magyar
Nederlands
Polski
Suomi
Contact us
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Mobile view