Cultural capital - class difference in achievement (external factors)

Cultural capital

• non - financial assets that help students navigate their education; e.g values, skills, language

Cultural capital - Pierre Bourdieu 1984

• two types of capital middle class parents possessed that would give their children an advantage in education. Acknowledges that economic capital can be converted into them

1. Educational capital - send children to private schools, buy houses in good catchment areas (their are schools allocated each catchment area that children go to - almost guaranteed entry, but can also apply to schools in other catchment areas), tuition, clubs, learning resources such as subscription to websites of notes, laptops

2. Cultural capital - knowledge, tastes, languages and values passed to children. Museum visits, art galleries, other cultural experiences (travel), encouragement to read and discussing abstract ideas - politics, philosophy; gains adt in system dominated by middle class values.

Cultural capital - AO3: Sullivan (2001)

Researched relationship between levels of cultural capital and academic achievement. A questionnaire involving 465 pupils across four diff schools shpwed that children with highest level of cultural capital were middle class and has higher chance of succeeding in GCSEs - supports Bourdieu’s theory.

However, if a middle class child and lower class child had same level of cultural capital, middle class still outperformed lower class child → something else is causing diff in academic achievement.

empty

empty