Cultural Capital

• What did Bordieu (1948) say about cultural capital?


  The educational attainment of pupils is based on a mixture of cultural and material factors, and the dominant culture of the middle class gives an advantage to those who posses it.
• Who conducted a test of Bordieu's ideas?

  Alice Sullivan (2001)
• How did Alice Sullivan conduct a test of Bordieu's ideas?

  1. Used questionnaires for a survey of 465 pupils in four schools
  2. Asked them about a range of activities, their vocab and knowledge of cultural figures
• What were Alice Sullivan's findings (2001)?

  1. Those who read complex fiction and watched docs developed wider vocab and greater cultural knowledge
  2. Cultural capital only accounted for part of the classes differences and middle class students still performed better
• What conclusion did Sullivan come to?

  The greater resources and aspirations of middle class families explain the remainder of the class gap in achievement
• What are the types of parents when choosing schools?

  1. Privileged skilled choosers
  2. Semi skilled choosers
  3. Disconnected local choosers
• What is a privileged school chooser?

  Professional middle class parents who use their econ and cultural capital to pick the best schools
• What is a semi skilled chooser?

  Mainly working class but they are ambitious to pick good schools and so take other opinions as they lack cultural capital
• What is a disconnected local chooser?

  Working class parent whose choice is restricted by ack of economic and cultural capital, so they will send their child to a local school