Define cultural capital, and explain its relevance for the sociological analysis of education

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Cultural capital refers to social assets that include values, beliefs, attitudes, and

competencies in language and culture. Cultural capital involves "proper" attitudes

toward education, socially approved dress and manners, and knowledge about books,

art, music, and other forms of high and popular culture. Middle- and upper-income

parents endow their children with more cultural capital than do working-class and

poverty-level parents. Because cultural capital is essential for acquiring an education,

children with less cultural capital have fewer opportunities to succeed in school. For

example, standardized tests that are used to group students by ability and to assign

them to classes often measure students' cultural capital rather than their "natural"

intelligence or aptitude. Thus, a circular effect occurs: students with dominant cultural

values are more highly rewarded by the educational system, and the educational

system teaches and reinforces those values that sustain the elite's position in society.