Cultural Capital

Reay, Diane. "Education and Cultural Capital: The Implications of Changing Trends in Educational Policies." Cultural Trends, 13 (2004): pp. 73-86.

“Education and Cultural Capital: The Implications of Changing Trends in Educational Policy” examines the influences and implications of a non-monetary kind of capital. Cultural capital, as defined by Reay, includes “educational qualifications and participation in high status activities,” but also more subjective qualities such as confidence, assertiveness, and aggression when dealing with teachers and the support of students. Part 1 centers on the changes in educational policy which have increased the role of the parent in the educational process. In Part 2, Reay discusses how cultural capital influences parent-teacher interactions. In the study, middle-class mothers are more confident and assertive than working-class mothers in their interactions with teachers, and are therefore more influential in the direction of their child’s education. In essence, cultural capital allows the middle-class mothers to take a more active role in their student’s education than that of working-class mothers. Part 3 examines the liberties that economic and cultural capital provide in a child’s education. Economic and cultural capital allows parents to be far more selective and influential in the education process, giving them liberty to move into different school districts, out of the state-system into private education, or into a selective school.

I found the case of Yussef and Navid to be of particular interest. Yussef and Navid are both immigrants who “may have access to little economic capital, but they maintain a strong sense of entitlement and academic confidence, the legacy, it is suggested, of their parents’ cultural capital.” These two cases demonstrate the power of cultural capital to break class boundaries. The expectations and support of these parents allowed the students to succeed in an accelerated environment predominately made up of middle-class students. Although these were rare cases, it is important in demonstrating the effects of high parental expectations and support.