Pierre Bourdieu’s (1930-2002) proposition of ‘reflective sociology’ and comprehension of sociology as an exposition and critique of the underlying structures of social life has had a large impact on social thought (see Navarro 2006, pp.15-17 for more detail). Bourdieu’s concepts of ‘habitus’ (first outlined in The Logic of Practice, 1980) and ‘cultural capital’ (described in The Forms of Capital, 1986) have been particularly influential for theories surrounding identity and community. Sullivan (2001) reaffirmed using empirical research that ‘cultural capital is transmitted within the home and does have a significant effect on performance’ in GCSE examinations (p.893). However, she explains that the transmission of cultural capital in the family or, ‘cultural reproduction' can only provide ‘a partial explanation of social class differences in educational attainment’ (ibid). Robinson and Garnier (1985) criticised Bourdieu for failing to clarify on the gender inequality in the labour market (p.266). …show more content…
In contrast, Skeggs (1997) utilised Bourdieu’s cultural capital approach to reclaim social class within feminist theory which will be discussed in more detail below (p.?). Echoing Marx, Bourdieu (1986) posits that economic-capital has formed the foundation of social life and dictates people’s position within the social order (p.46-47). Bourdieu (1986) believes that the more economic-capital an individual has the more powerful position they will occupy; he extends Marx’s economic theory of capital towards the symbolic realm of culture (p.49). Bourdieu (1986) describes cultural capital as the collection of symbolic elements that are transmitted within the family and acquired through being a member of a particular social class (p.48-54). He delineates that cultural capital comes in three forms—‘embodied, objectified, and institutionalized’ (1896, p.47). Languages and accents are examples of cultural capital in its embodied state, material possessions such as cars are of objectified cultural capital and institutionalized cultural capital refers to qualifications and credentials that symbolize cultural competence and authority (ibid, p.48-51). Bourdieu (1986) explains how certain forms of capital have greater value than others, which can hinder individuals social mobility just as much, if not more so than economic capital (p.?).
Bourdieu (1986) implies that shared cultural capital can create a sense of collective identity, at least symbolically (1986, p53). Furthermore, ‘endless’ affirmation and reaffirmation of recognition places groups in dominant positions (ibid). Bourdieu (1986) posits how social capital (groups, memberships, social networks etc.) possessed by these relations of proximity, (which can be ‘geographical’, ‘social’ or ‘economic ‘), ‘provides each of its members with the backing of the collectively-owned capital … which entitles them to credit ‘– it provides access to resources (p.51). Bourdieu (1986) theory of cultural capital demonstrates the way collective identities can control access to resources, such as education, which in turn affects social positioning, or memberships to
communities. Bourdieu (1984, 2010) discusses how habitus is a social rather than an individual process (p.?) He defines habitus as, ‘a structuring structure, which organises practices and the perception of practices’ (opcit, p.166). It structures an agents actions and their perception of the social world. Bourdieu (2010) explains how habitus is also, ‘a structure of structures the principle of division into logical classes’, it is ‘a system of difference’ and ‘social identity is defined and asserted through difference’ (p.167). Habitus are tendencies that guide ones behaviour; they are our tastes, to our lifestyles, to our dispositions - which are the result of social structures such as class (p.168). TASTE Habitus may constrain individual’s identity through access to resources, but Bourdieu (2010) implies that it does not determine one’s actions or thoughts (p.167). Yet as habitus is transmitted through the family it is often mistaken as natural, however if an individual becomes aware as well as reflective of their individual habitus then they have the potential be reflectively objective when observing social fields (p.4). Habitus not only constrains but it also constructs our identities and, in effect our membership in communities. Habitus becomes a ‘sign system’ which are ‘socially qualified’ to make judgements classifications based on an individual’s membership (2010, p.168). ‘Groups invest themselves totally, with everything that opposes them to other groups, in the common words which express their social identity, i.e., their difference ’. (2010, p.192)
One of Bourdieu’s central arguments is that what we refer to as “capital” is actually the collective product of four sub-types of capital: economic, social, symbolic, and cultural. Although these different types of capital are distinct categories, they intersect to create the more mainstream idea of capital. Similarly, Hill Collins and Bilge break down the broad idea of power into smaller components in order to examine how power operates, and how its tied to
The theories of Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Pierre Bourdieu, Basil Bernstein and Shirley Brice Heath represent the deterministic end of the social reproduction perspective. These theories mainly involve school, the ideas of cultural capital, habitus, and linguistic cultural capital and can help explain more in depth how the reproduction of classes continue through generations, and how this reproduction is accepted.
Cultural deprivation comes under three main aspects the first one is ‘Language’ as shown in item A ‘social class differences in educational achievement’ is one of the main reasons for the gap between the working class and middle class. The importance of language in education is portrayed by the sociologist Carl Bereiter and Siegfried Engelmann (1966) as they believe the lower class family use different language and mostly use hand gestural. Basil Bernstein (1975) has also shown differences between working class and middle class he shows this by the two speech codes. The restricted code is the speech used by working class, it limits the vocabulary a...
Collins further talks about economic, cultural, and specifically linguistic reproduction. linguistic capital is a more specific form of capital. It refers to the role of language and class in social reproduction. This concept was originally coined by Basil Bernstein, who argued that “the experience of work process reinforces kinds of family role relations, themselves realized as discursive identities that are carried by ‘elaborated’ and ‘restricted’ codes” (39). We saw this in the 1960s; poor African Americans performed inadequately in school because they were culturally or linguistically deprived. Not only is race a determining factor in the social reproduction of inequality, but it is a combination of how facets of our identity intersect with changing values and norms of our society.
Louie, Vivian. 2001. “Parents’ Aspirations and Investment: The Role of Social Class in the Educational
Is Michel Foucault a historian or not? At the beginning of the analysis on Foucault’s historical analysis, what should be acknowledged is that none of Foucault’s works refer to his previous ones and every work is based upon a new construction of theory and method which shakes the standard norms of history writing and put his methods under suspicion by some historians. On the other hand, many others favor his work; because of Foucault’s specific approach, Gutting calls him as an ‘intellectual artisan’ who was an expert of producing intellectual equivalents of material objects and especially three kinds of them which are history, theory and myth. (Gutting 1996, 3-6) Thomas Flynn answers this question by claiming that Foucault’s all major works are histories of a
Debord uses the term 'cultural theory' to denote the common ground between class and society. It could b...
In Unequal Childhood - Class, Race, and Family Life, Annette Lareau tributes the French social scientist Pierre Bourdieu when using his theory of the forms of capital as a fundamental argument on her study. In this theory, Bourdieu recognizes three different types of capital; social, symbolical and cultural. Bourdieu describes social capital as “the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition.” This means that social capital is based on resources built from personal relationships, club memberships and other social influence and connections. The second form of capital,
Adding to earlier strain theories from theorist like the French Emile Durkheim, who is considered one of the fathers of sociology because of his effort to establish sociology as a discipline distinct from philoso...
In Chapter 11 of Cultural Anthropology by Kenneth Guest, Guest writes about the reality of the American dream that most people do not see. According to Pierre Bourdieu, Education is not always the key to getting someone out of the socioeconomic class they are initially in. Bourdiew studied the French educational system from 1970-1999 in order to understand the relationship that connects class, culture and power. His research led him to find the idea of social reproduction. Social Reproduction is the “idea that the educational system helped reproduced the social relations that already exist by passing class position from generation to generation in a family” (404). This idea refutes the American dream entirely because it says that if you are born in a rich family you will most likely be rich because of all the resources they are able to provide you with. Another idea that relates strongly to the idea of social reproduction is the concept of cultural
Swartz, D (1997) Culture and power, the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. London: The University of Chicago Press.
Feminists believe that education is an agent of secondary socialization that helps to enforce patriarchy. Cultural transmission has made known the way culture and precisely expectations of the genders can be transmitted from one generation to another. While Sylvia Walby’s ‘‘triple system theory’’ argues that experiences of ethnicity and class complicate what it means to be a female so we have to combine patriarchy with capitalism and
Pierre B (1961) Culture Capital Cited, Taylor P ; Richardson Jr John; Yeo, A, (1995), The class structure and educational attainment, Sociology in Focus, pp.297, Ormskirk, Causeway Press.
Social class is a determinant used to define where a family stands in terms of salary and socioeconomic status. However, it is used to determine what will be offered to the family, for example, the type of school that each child will attend. But what it does not determine is the success of that student’s education attainment. Money can buy a college education yet, it will not buy literacy.
Holmes, Hughes and Julia (2007) defined cultural capital as an understanding and knowledge about culture, power and communication within a society a child lives in. All students will bring a backpack to school which will contain items such as a lunchbox, books, homework and personal belongings. Often education and university experts talk about a different type of backpack that students might bring to school. This backpack is often referred as a “virtual backpack” (Thomson 2002). Throughout Thomson’s (2007) book...