Cultural capital

This article is about the sociological term. For cities and locations, see Capital of Culture.

In the field of sociology, cultural capital comprises the social assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech, style of dress, social capital, etc.) that promote social mobility in a stratified society.[1] Cultural capital functions as a social relation within an economy of practices (i.e. system of exchange), and includes the accumulated cultural knowledge that confers social status and power;[2][3] thus cultural capital comprises the material and symbolic goods, without distinction, that society considers rare and worth seeking.[4] There are three types of cultural capital: (i) embodied capital, (ii) objectified capital, and (iii) institutionalised capital.

Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron coined and defined the term cultural capital in the essay "Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction" (1977). Bourdieu then developed the concept in the essay "The Forms of Capital" (1985) and in the book The State Nobility: Élite Schools in the Field of Power (1996) to explain that the education (knowledge and intellectual skills) of a person provides social mobility in achieving a higher social status in society.[5][6]

  1. ^ J.P.E Harper-Scott and Jim Samson (2009). An Introduction to Music studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 52–55.
  2. ^ Harker, 1990:13
  3. ^ Barker, Chris. 2004. "Cultural capital." Pp. 37 in The Sage Dictionary of Cultural Studies. London: SAGE Publications.
  4. ^ The Dictionary of Human Geography (5th ed.). 2009. p. 127.
  5. ^ Bourdieu, Pierre. [1985] 1986. "The Forms of Capital." Pp. 46–58 in Handbook of Theory of Research for the Sociology of Education.
  6. ^ Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984 [1979]. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste, translated by R. Nice. Harvard University Press.