cultural capital

English

Etymology

Calque of French capital culturel, coined by French sociologists Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron (1970).

Noun

cultural capital (uncountable)

1. (sociology) The social assets of a person, like education, intellect, style of speech/dress, etc. that promote social mobility.

   Coordinate terms: economic capital, human capital, political capital, social capital, sexual capital

   • 2007, Tim Edwards, Cultural Theory, SAGE, →ISBN, page 265:

     If you like: if economic capital is what you have, cultural capital is what you know, social capital is whom you know. […] Unless educational resources make some attempt to reverse the flow of cultural capital transmitted in the home then the end result will be enhanced forms of cultural inequality.

   • 2020, Emily Segal, Mercury Retrograde, New York: Deluge Books, →ISBN:

     […] I had an excess of cultural capital and a lack of actual capital; […]

Derived terms

• subcultural capital

Translations

assets

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: kulttuuripääoma, kulttuurinen pääoma
• French: capital culturel (fr) m
• Polish: kapitał kulturowy m

Further reading

• cultural capital on Wikipedia.Wikipedia