BOOK

Capital and Academic Achievement

• Concept of Capital

  • Bourdieu (1986) identified three forms of capital:

    • Economic capital: source of all other forms.

    • Cultural capital: knowledge of cultural symbols and ability to decode messages.

    • Social capital: networks and connections that can provide resources.

• Economic Capital

  • Determines financial support parents can provide for academic pursuits.

  • Family income can fund after-school activities and access to elite educational opportunities (Lareau 2011).

  • Families with limited economic resources face constraints in providing advantages to their children (Crosnoe and Cooper 2010).

Cultural Capital

• Embodied State

  • Represents physical traits as markers of social class (e.g., body language, appearance).

• Objectified State

  • Refers to access to cultural goods, like books and educational materials.

• Impact on Class Inequality

  • Both states of cultural capital contribute to the reproduction of social class and material resource accumulation (Bourdieu 1986).

Overview of the Literature

• Structure of the Document

  • Chapter 1: Introduction to Socioeconomic Inequality and Educational Outcomes.

  • Chapter 2: Review of Literature on SES and Academic Achievement

    • Includes subsections on:

      • SES Constructs and Measures

      • Family SES related to Student Achievement

      • Differences in Education Systems

      • Changes Over Time

  • Chapter 3: Methodology for Socioeconomic Index Construction for TIMSS analyses.