Does Culture Really Matter? Cross-national Comparisons of Students’ Connection to School

• In Event: 207 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. The Role of Social and Cultural Capital

Abstract

This study examines whether the relationship between various aspects of cultural capital and children’s school life varies across nations and these variations are associated with international differences in terms of cultural dimensions. Using the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the authors found that cultural capital importantly relates to have more positive attitude towards school. Specifically, cultural possessions, reading activities and student teacher relation are significantly associated with the outcome. Possessing cultural resources is positively related to the outcome in 43 countries participating in the PISA 2009 study. Also, this relation is significantly different among those countries. However, this study discovered no discernable pattern across countries in the effect of cultural possessions on 15-year-old students’ perception on school related to national culture. A negative influence appears in national levels of economic development, which suggests that children from more affluent countries tend to have less positive attitude towards school. There is a positive association between cultural possessions and individualism on the outcome, though it has no significant impact on the outcome. This result implies that the relative advantage of the affluent cultural capital might be prominent in more individualistic countries. The results of this study suggest that educational policy makers need to consider how to compensate disadvantaged groups for their lack of cultural resources.

Authors

• Suehye Kim, State University of New York-Albany

• Kathryn S. Schiller, State University of New York-Albany