A Life Course Perspective on Cultural Capital Acquisition

• In Event: 545 - Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtable Session.
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 06. Cultural Capital I

Abstract

Using data from the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (1997), we examine how parental social class, personal social class, and the timing of musical socialization affect the likelihood of developing and retaining highbrow musical tastes as measured through having attended classical music concerts or opera in the last year. We consider the potential entanglement between childhood and adult social class as a determinant of cultural capital; at the same time we bring together Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory and life course theory to help map out patterns of aesthetic taste acquisition. Our findings support, to some extent, Bourdieu’s theory about the importance of early childhood socialization on aesthetic tastes; however, we also find that experiences throughout the life course can shape tastes, and we argue that the timing and duration of aesthetic socialization, post-early childhood, are important to specify. Considering the conditions of ‘when’ and ‘for how long’ illustrates that life course principles sometimes complement and sometimes contradict Bourdieu’s theory. Consequently, a full understanding of cultural capital acquisition requires going beyond Bourdieu’s original ideas to incorporate insights from the life course perspective.

Authors

• Lok See Loretta Ho, University of Toronto

• Blair Wheaton, University of Toronto

• Shyon S. Baumann, University of Toronto