The Reception on Campus: The Experiences of Students of Color Deploying Cultural Capital

• In Event: The Role of Cultural Capital and Race in Urbana Schools' Post-Pandemic Outbreak

Abstract

Much research has focused on the question of whether and how cultural capital can be cultivated among students to facilitate college success; however, this assumes that institutions value capital equally and ignores the racial dimension of cultural capital. We ask, how do low-income, students of color experience efforts to deploy their cultural capital in pursuit of college success? Drawing on data from 37 interviews with low-income students of color who attended elite college preparatory high schools, we find that students’ attempts to deploy their cultural capital did not always result in similar outcomes. We look at how the racialized higher education context and organizational differences across colleges are manifested in the “small moments” of cultural capital deployment on campus.

Authors

• Shelley Kimelberg, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Megan Holland Iantosca, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Fanya Wu, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Leasa N. Mills, University at Buffalo - SUNY