Bourdieu and the Forms of Capital

• In Event: 34.035 - Funds of Knowledge, Community Cultural Wealth, and Forms of Capital: Strengths, Tensions, and Ethical Considerations

Abstract

Bourdieu is one of the most influential, yet controversial social theorists of the late twentieth-century. His work helped to understand how systems of power are maintained through the transmission of the dominant culture, who are able to use their various capitals, economic, cultural, social, and symbolic, to contribute to the systems of domination of other groups (Bourdieu, 1973, 1977, 1990; Lamont & Lareau, 1988; Lareau & Weininger, 2003). The application of these capitals in educational settings may help educators untangle why social stratification persists effortlessly today (Lareau, 2011; Lareau & Horvat, 1999). Bourdieu highlighted the tensions between individual and institutions, where institutions continue to dominate lower status groups by manipulating the values of capitals in the educational system to favor dominant groups. Bourdieu’s scholarship can explain how marginalized and vulnerable groups navigate the educational pipeline, but others must push for the reconceptualization of how forms of capital can be used to further interrogate the educational experiences of students of color.

Author

• Patricia M. McDonough, University of California - Los Angeles