The term cultural capital refers to wealth or economic capital. Bourdieu uses it to refer to knowledge, attitudes and values and the languages of middle class families. His view on the middle class cultures shows it to give an advantage to those who have it. He has similar ideas to Bernstein by saying that they are likely to understand what the education system wants from them in order to succeed. Middle class children have an advantage in schools as their abilities and skills are valued there, this is due to the fact that the education system is not fair favours middle class cultures. Working class children may feel devalued by schools and that their culture is deemed as rough and not having cultural capital can lead to failure in exams. Working class children may understand that education might not be what they need and this results in leaving early.
His theory is mainly based on the middle class homes possessing cultural capital and this enables them to become more successful than the working class homes, this therefore allows middle class to have a dominant position within the education system. Not saying, that working class students may not achieve at all, this will not cause disruption within the education system but merely strengthens it as it is a contributer towards the examination results. Bourdieus theory is not as clear as other theories on the topic of class
differences and this can lead to it becoming criticised, he doesn't put emphasis
on the resources within a middle class home that enable them to possess cultural
capital and how these resources help children within education. There is evidence that suggests the 'dramatic fall in the material costs to families of education due to educational reforms, such as the free and compulsory secondary education, haven't dimished the dregree of association between class and origins and educational attainment' (Shavit and Blossfeld, 1993; Halsey et al., 1980) This would mean that the advantages in education that middle class parents may give to their child is not caused by the economic factors and that cultural capital is more serious and should brought to attention.
All three educational, economic and cultural capital can be converted into each other. So the middle class children that possess cultural capital are more equipped to gain the qualifications needed. Parents that may have a lot of wealth can afford to send their child to the best schools and pay for tuition needed for their children to aim high.
His theory is mainly based on the middle class homes possessing cultural capital and this enables them to become more successful than the working class homes, this therefore allows middle class to have a dominant position within the education system. Not saying, that working class students may not achieve at all, this will not cause disruption within the education system but merely strengthens it as it is a contributer towards the examination results. Bourdieus theory is not as clear as other theories on the topic of class
differences and this can lead to it becoming criticised, he doesn't put emphasis
on the resources within a middle class home that enable them to possess cultural
capital and how these resources help children within education. There is evidence that suggests the 'dramatic fall in the material costs to families of education due to educational reforms, such as the free and compulsory secondary education, haven't dimished the dregree of association between class and origins and educational attainment' (Shavit and Blossfeld, 1993; Halsey et al., 1980) This would mean that the advantages in education that middle class parents may give to their child is not caused by the economic factors and that cultural capital is more serious and should brought to attention.
All three educational, economic and cultural capital can be converted into each other. So the middle class children that possess cultural capital are more equipped to gain the qualifications needed. Parents that may have a lot of wealth can afford to send their child to the best schools and pay for tuition needed for their children to aim high.
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