Class External- Culture Capital

Question 1

Bourdieu - 3 types of capital

Answer 1

Marxist theorist Bourdieu argues both cultural and material factors contribute to educational achievement and that middle class generally possess more of all 3 types of capital.
Cultural capital- having skills,knowledge,norms and values used to succeed in life
Economic capital-wealth owned by individual or parents used on education or other resources that help children
Educational capital-MC parents have higher educational achievement thus can help with work better than WC parents

Question 2

Cultural Capital theory

Answer 2

Marxist theory that argues working class culture is not inferior or lacking but different to MC culture. 
Focuses on dominance of MC culture in society and social institutions and doesn’t blame working class underachievement on WC culture.
MC children more likely to succeed due to education system run by MC and works in their interests as they define their own culture.

Question 3

Culture Capital - Habitus

Answer 3

A class containing its own framework or a set of norms, values and ideas, it contains a set of assumptions 
MC habitus includes many activities inherently educational providing the MC children with the skills and knowledge in school giving an advantage over the WC

Question 4

Culture Capital - Habitus and class differences

Answer 4

MC culture is dominant in school since schools place high value on middle class skills so they are suited well.
In contrast WC culture is seen as inferior by most schools. Default assumptions by schools are WC children taught to be more MC like so WC culture becomes devalued and are more likely to struggle

Question 5

Culture Capital - Evalution ( Positive )

Answer 5

• Social capital theory is useful in explaining the fact the privately educated children often use their social networks to get further educational opportunities
• Unlike cultural deprivation theory, Bourdieu doesn’t see working class as inferior or blame the working class for failure of children.

Question 6

Cultural Capital Theory - Criticisms

Answer 6

• Most research suggests material deprivation and economic capital are more significant factors than cultural capital in explaining class differences in educational achievement.
• Possibly unfair to blame schools for being biased against WC children - many schools put extra resources to help WC children
• From Research Methods POV, difficult to research and test aspects of cultural capital theory as how do you measure effect of Piano Lessons on educational achievement?